The Shadow's Fighters
by toastedCroissants
Summary: Aelita Schaeffer, the seventeen-year old princess of France got everything she ever wanted. But not until a tyrannical King comes and invades her country, bringing her family to their knees. What will happen when she leaves her castle for safety and encounters a group of experienced fighters that want to help her? Read and find out! J/A and a bit U/Y COMPLETE!
1. Prologue

**Hey guys! So this is my first fanfic, so feel free to leave reviews, good or bad. (: So the first two chapters will just be a intro into the story, explaining the setting, plot, etc. So it won't really have to do anything our main characters yet. Haha, so be patient! So sit back, relax, and enjoy!**

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Prologue

"Another good night, men, I applaud ye all," says a tall man with a smile plastered across his face: King Dominik Diederich, tyrannical ruler of nearly all of Eurasia. "Conquering all the way to Japan has far surpassed my expectations! Tomorrow, we set out back to Germany, where we will travel west this time. We shall conquer France next." He circles France with a large red permanent marker on the map spread out in between him and his army, a wide expanse of blue and green. Every continent on the map is left alone, except for Europe and Asia: all crowded with red markings and pins, symbols of where they had conquered.

Groans from the knights erupted all around Dominik, but nothing is able to chip his eager stance. He raises his left hand, to signal everyone to silence themselves.

"But sire, shan't we rest for a few days? Most of us are injured, and it will do no good to further increase the risk of more fatalities," says a knight timidly, murmurs of agreement all around them. "It will be no point, since we conquered almost all land. No one can stand in our way. Of course, China and Russia, we haven't conquered, but we can travel around them."

Dominik thinks for a second, stroking his chin and furrowing his brow in concentration. "Alright then," he says, as the knights collected sighs of relief. "We set out next Wednesday."

* * *

As night fell, Dominik walks up the hill to a cemetery he heard about. The moon casts eerie shadows amongst the gravestones, white and washed from years of weather. He wears a cloak, as it billows behind him with the dried leaves as the wind blew. Concealed inside his cloak, the The Death's Skull. No one knows about what he's going to do tonight.

Dominik stands at the very front of the gravestones, and falls on both knees. Sticking his hand inside his cloak, he retrieves an old human skull. He clasps it between both hands, and raises it up into the sky. "I need a bigger army," he whispers faintly to himself. "The Death's Skull!"

The skull bursts with gold light, and a wave of energy hits King Dominik, forcing his cloak back. Leaves scatter violently, as the oak trees rustle creepily. With no help whatsoever, the skull's mouth opens widely, and purple light erupts from it, enveloping the gravestones.

Abruptly, everything calms, until moaning made its way into Dominik's ears, not bothering him at all. He stands calmly and stares, as the earth starts to loosen. The gravestones crack, and become demolished as rotting flesh erupts from the ground. Arms were the first to peek out from the ground, and they anchored themselves to the earth's surface. From there, they pull the rest of their bodies out from underground.

What stands before King Dominik is a whole army of cloaked dead bodies, coming back from the dead.

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**Author's Note: How was it? Feel free to review! Feedback is appreciated! (: Many chapters are soon to come. :)**


	2. Piling War

**I'm back! :) Fast, huh? Haha, so here's Chapter 1 of The Shadow's Fighters! So sit back, relax, and enjoy! Reviews are appreciated!**

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Chapter 1: Piling War

No one knew what would happen after World War III.

It was the war that made World War I and II almost reach the extent of harmlessness.

The remains were a pure relic, making it known that World War III did indeed happen. Everywhere you turned, everywhere you looked, it was a nightmare.

World War III ended on a chilly, snowy evening. Even once tranquility was restored, people still dwelled on the losses, reminders of them everywhere. The once radiant, white snow was now streaked with the crimson color of dry blood. The ruins of the once beautiful, chiseled buildings were now buried into the depths, some remnants of stone and glass occasionally peeking out of the vast expanse of the powdery snow. Dead, blood soaked bodies were strewn all around, soon to be buried. Every city was left in ruins. Survivors of the war kneeled on their knees, staring up into the deep blue of the sky, letting small tears cascade down their cheeks as they watched the shimmery snowflakes fall. No one savored the pure beauty of the snowflakes, as a few of them gently settled on their faces.

There was one man that didn't follow suit. He was in his late thirties, and unlike the others, he laid in the snow on his left side, sobbing. His eyes were tightly shut, as he hugged himself, but not because of the coldness of the snow, but from the sadness of it all. His shirt was becoming damp, but he didn't seem to notice.

As he raises his face to pry open his eyes, a small glimmer catches the man's attention. Eager to find out what it is, he gets up on his knees and shuffles towards it.

His knees getting numb from the cold, he finds a gold necklace, with a large, jade stone pendant carved into the all familiar body of Buddha.  
It was his wife's, now dead. He literally collapses, and buries his face into his hands. He incessantly sobs, with the necklace still clasped inside his hand.

Sorrow lingered in the air as they mourned.

There was no apparent victory of World War III. All of Earth's countries battled to the extent of all of them having no more ammunition, bombs, or any more land to burn down. The whole population of weapon factories was already demolished before the conclusion of the war, along with the workers. Natural resources that remained were scarce.

During the war, people that were fortunate enough fled from their homes, bringing what they could with them. While the war started to come out of hand, fleeing people were ordered to bring all of their resources with them, farmers especially. They were worried that once the war ended, there would be nothing else to rebuild on, only the stone and rubble left behind from destroyed buildings.

Once people left their home country, there was no turning back. Making it out was already considered lucky. Choosing to go back was similar to a death wish.

Since every country in the world became depleted of resources and weapons, the treaty was sent out to be signed. This treaty was made to declare a draw, and every country had no choice but to sign it, being out of nothing else to use as a defense.

The war started as a great disagreement, and ended at the depletion of war fighting mechanisms.

All two hundred countries fought against each other, as if the world was harming itself. No alliances were formed during the war, the reason being everyone was already battling for their own protection.

Almost the whole world became cleared out with the fire of battle. A near barren wasteland, what we called 'Earth.' Earth. Where it was livable, with life, color, and happiness. Is it still livable?

After the war, all anybody thought about was how long the process of rebuilding would take. This was the worst war yet, and all the world had left were a few thousand seeds of different plants that provided food for living, and a few thousand domesticated animals. Everything else was demolished to the state of extinction in the war. Of course, the people that had these resources were farmers, and these farmers, they were selfish. They knew they were crucial in the process of rebuilding. A few days after the war, it was clear that they had made a pact, and requested that everyone will have to be under their rule. They thought that if they were the key to reviving Earth again, they should be worshipped, like a second God.

These farmers became the Kings and Queens of different countries, and the world fell into another Medieval Era. Modern clothing became trailing veils, long voluptuous silk gowns, elaborate headpieces, tunics, stockings, and trousers. Modern English became mixed with Elizabethan Vocabulary, which the people of royal blood requested to be only spoken by them and to them. It took almost two whole centuries to revive Earth, many dying in starvation during the process. Eventually, the world came back to its own beautiful, original state, except without nuclear weapons and bombs, the world learning its lesson. Fighting techniques became a bit more old-fashioned.

These new rulers, they governed well, out of kindness and respect towards their subjects. The world became almost peaceful, perfect.

People on Earth thought about what to call this new era of time, and they chose 'Medieval Rebirth.'

Everyone thought that the world would stay peaceful, but another predicament arose.

Eurasia evolved into a beautiful, peaceful land. Its rolling, veggie abundant hills, gorgeous, chiseled stone castles, and its glistening rivers and lakes made its residents proud to be the inhabitants. They lived together in harmony, under the kind reigning of their Kings and Queens, who seemingly do everything to improve life in Eurasia, as if it is even possible.

But there was one country that wasn't as perfect as the others: Germany, a once beautiful country and currently under the rule of King Dominik Diederich. His tyrannical reigning centered around wealth, and undeserving power. He was selfish. Unlike its neighboring countries, Germany is in a state of poverty.

The day when King Dominik took over Germany could probably be Eurasia's worst nightmare, the starting of a continental war.

King Dominik has one plan. And one plan only. And that plan is to take over all of Eurasia and receive endless, substantial power. When Germany's original rulers died of old age, Dominik, their son, the prince, took over. He is very intelligent, yet insane, and became drowned in his own riches. He burned down the beautiful buildings of Germany, hoping to put its residents in a state of poverty. And of course, he succeeded.  
He kept one building intact, though. And selfishly enough, it was his own, inherited castle, now surrounded by withered trees and burnt wood, a barren wasteland.

Germany entered a state of pure turmoil. King Dominik thought that if he could wipe out everyone else's wealth, he could have even more control over them. No one could eat freely, buy the finest clothes, or anything else in fact anymore. All of Germany's residents became severely emaciated, too weak to fight for anything. King Dominik was right.

Everyone lost their all in the fire.

Taking over Germany was the first step in Dominik's plan. And now he has to walk through the rest. He wants all of Eurasia in the palm of his hand, under his tyrannical rule.

He worked Germany's reluctant knights for months and formed the finest military force. They traveled south to Switzerland, Italy, and Austria, burning down all of their buildings, deteriorating their armies (and adding them to his own), and mercilessly executing their deserving, kind rulers. All of that, and he left the countries' residents alone, whoever was intelligent enough to stay out of the way.

Germany's army had no choice but to kill, after taking an oath the day of their recruitment to stay loyal to the ruler. No two or more countries could form bonds with each other, the reason being that they were too occupied with protecting their own. After subsequent rampages, almost all of Europe, plus most of Asia is now under King Dominik's rule. Like Germany, they became a barren wasteland as well, facing the same fate.

Following those five years of endless rampaging, the only standing countries in Europe now are France, Spain, and Portugal, and in Asia, China and Russia. Of course, King Dominik's army is still too small and weak to take down the large countries in Asia. But the ones in Europe, that is a whole different story.

He didn't have the chance to take them down yet.

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**Author's Notes: I know that the whole WIII idea is super duper far-fetched (probably asinine), but considering I only had a month to think up the plot for my novel, this was the most 'understandable' sequence of events I could think of. What's better than making everything explode and start over? I'm just kidding, haha. I needed a reason for going back to the medieval times with a modern twist, knowing I also didn't have the time to research and make this historically accurate . XD**

**So yeah. My English teacher can be a little too expectant sometimes. Writing a novel in a month FTW! LOL.**


	3. Tragedy at E'en

**Hey, guys! Thanks so much for the reviews! I know it's not much, but it's my first ever fanfic, and any amount I'm happy with, really. (: I'm going to have exams soon, and then it's winter break, so I have lots of time now to type. (: Thanks also for being patient with me, because this is the chapter where things really start to pick up. So sit back, relax, and enjoy Chapter Two of 'The Shadow's Fighters!'**

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Chapter 2: Tragedy at E'en

"Shut the doors, lock the windows!" yells a woman as she roams down the halls of her castle, her palace, near the northern border of France, careful to lift her silk dress. "Block all entryways! We don't want the enemy to breach these walls!"

"What troubles you, milady? Pray tell," says the King, placing her hands in his when she arrived at his throne.

"The soldiers from the land of Germany, they come hither," replies Anthea in a faint whisper. "Ready our soldiers, and hide Aelita. I don't want any harm done to her." Just then, the sounds of whimpering men are heard just outside the castle. The guards. Francis and Anthea pause for a brief second.

"Yes, you go and take care of that, and I'll notify our soldiers. Wick!" After a few seconds had elapsed, the King's most loyal messenger arrives, heavily panting with his hands on his knees. He then dips into a bow, and the King nods in approval. "Go and tell our soldiers to get ready for battle, and that I hope good fortune comes to them," the King demands. Wick nods in understanding, and Francis waves his hand, signaling Wick to leave. The King then turns back to his wife. He says, with a solemn look, "Anthea, it's time for us to part ways... keep Aelita safe. That bright light of ours is worth saving, don't you think?" He lightly chuckles, trying to lighten the mood.

A small smile flickers on Anthea's face. "I shall. Perchance we shall see each other again...?"

Then she broke down. Warm tears pave their way slowly down Anthea's cheeks. Her heart dropped at the feeling of never seeing her love again.

Meanwhile, the King pulls her in for an embrace.

"Stay strong, my dear," says Francis, stroKing Anthea's hair. "I fare-thee-well."

Anthea leaves the King's arms, a hurt look on her face. She then reluctantly turns around, and the King watches as she disappears into the shadows of the night.

"What hast we here? Francis? What a..._pleasant_ surprise..." The King whips around towards the formidable voice, and sadly finds the King of Germany facing him with two bodyguards, and he is _smirKing._ He is a tall man, with flat blonde hair combed into place; a style that his hair stylists thought best suited him. He is clothed in a red silk robe, hemmed with fur, and on his head, a gold crown, adorned with the finest cut jewels. "Bow down to me, or death shall come thy way," he says surprisingly calmly, ready to cause Francis' defeat.

"Thou can take over France, my land, but it will be of no use. My army will murder every single one of thy weak soldiers, and thy staff, and no one will be able to assist thou, and thou, Dominik, will face death," says Francis, his impassiveness very evident in his face. "I'd rather fall to the deepest pits of Hell than have to bow down to someone as feeble as you,"

"You poor, base rascally, cheating, lack-linen mate, thou dare say that to me! I can kill thee now, and thee still think I'm weak?" yells the ruler of Germany, anger now surfacing him. "Now that won't do now will it?" Dominik turns to his bodyguards. "Do pin him down, and execute him," he orders. And one of his bodyguards, concealed behind a pair of dark shades, obeys. He presses Francis against the wall, and holds a knife dangerously close to his throat, very close to breaKing skin. "As you will, Francis, death is what thou wants, death is what thou will receive."

All Francis felt was the stinging sensation of the gleaming knife piercing his throat, and before he knew it, he found himself sliding down the castle's stone wall slowly, his legs giving out under him. He grasps his neck, gasping desperately for air, but the slit in his throat keeps him from doing so. A pool of his own blood forms around him as he gags and coughs up the red liquid, life seeping out of him by the second. The red carpet gradually becomes a deeper red as it soaks up Francis' blood.

"I will take over France, and thou are very fortunate that thou won't be alive to see it." states Dominik, amused by the pleading look on Francis' face. "I hope thy soul gets devoured in Hell." He starts to walk away, but turns back towards King Francis. "Oh, and one more thing: we are off to kill your beloved wife."

That was the last thing Francis heard, as a sea of black forever engulfs him.

* * *

As King Francis, King of France gets interrogated by King Dominik, King of Germany, Queen Anthea frantically scampers around the castle in search for her daughter, Aelita. She takes into accord of all of Aelita's most desirable places: the library, her bedroom, and even the kitchen.

"Oh, where could she be?" Anthea asks herself. "Aelita!" she yells as she roamed down another of the castle's countless halls, her veil trailing behind her. "Aelita!"

"Good eve, you wish to see me, mother?" Anthea sighs in relief as she watches Aelita walk towards her, coming from the kitchen's transparent glass double doors. Aelita notices her mother's bloodshot, puffy eyes, and a wave of worry sweeps over her. "Is something the matter? Methinks you are a bit out of sorts.."

"It's King Dominik of Germany and he-"

"It is even so?" yells Aelita. "Is father okay? We have to go help him!"

"Hark now, methinks he's okay. But all that matters now is thy safety. Go and hide under your bed, and flee the castle, but only if thou can tell that Dominik has taken over. Go!"

Aelita starts to break into a run, but looks back at Anthea in hesitation. She looks down at the red carpet, back up at her mother, and nods in determination. She starts her run again, her dress trailing behind her, disappearing at the turn towards the staircase. As she started her way up, she heard men's footsteps, some yelling, an unsheathing of a sword, and her mother's subsequent screams that followed. Tears run down Aelita's cheeks as she tries to distract herself with the fiery lit torches and multi-colored shields lined along the wall, gripping the railing of the staircase for support.

She eventually arrives at her bedroom, heavily furnished with pink and runs to her canopy bed. She then sheds her large, flowing elaborate silk dress hemmed with copious amounts of lace, and lays it on the plush red chair accompanying her oak writing desk. Aelita, only in her corset, slides her slim, enviable figure into the hiding place her mother specifically ordered.

* * *

While Aelita ran to her hiding place, Wick, King Francis' most loyal messenger, runs off in search of the heavy cavalry; the castle's knights. The sky is painted with black tonight, as gray, dense clouds ominously hover overhead, fully concealing the expected full moon. He arrived at the manor where the knights were housed, which was conveniently built in the vicinity of the castle. It is a tall building, built out of stone and marble, with multiple windows lining the eighteen stories. Wick bangs the circular metal handle on the door, and starts to wait for the leader of the knights to answer.

"Good eve, Wick!" answers the leader of the knights cheerfully, standing very muscular and tall. One of his hands is possessively clasped around a large chicken leg while the other held the door open. Wick notices that food crumbs lined his mouth, trapped in his large beard, and figures that they have been eating dinner. The knight is clothed in a white linen cloth shirt, with a pair of black slacks.

"I come with a message from King Francis," answers Wick, having slightly contradicted feelings between the large build of the strong knight and the food crumbs surrounding his mouth. "Put on thy armor, and tend thy horses. This e'en, there will be a fight against the land of Germany. The King also bids ye all good fortune."

"As you will," answers the brave night, a solemn look now on his face. "I shall notify the others."

* * *

The fight between Germany and France seemed interminable. Horses were shot down, brave knights were killed. The whole battle seemed like a volley of arrows, and the clinKing of swords and daggers. Nobody seemed to take the upper hand for days.

Unfortunately, Germany had won, killing both France's King and Queen, along with most of their large army. Sadly, the ones who lived were forced to bow down to their new King, King Dominik. The land outside of King Francis' and Queen Anthea's castle became strewn with myriads of the dead bodies of France's soldiers, along with a far too small number of Germany's. Sorrow lingered in the air, as the residents of France mourned the death of their King, who ruled so kindly, and gained their respects.

But no one knew about what became of the Princess.

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**Author's Note: Haha, so how was that? Not so bad, huh? I like it, and I hope you do too. I worked really hard on this chapter, so reviews are highly appreciated!**

**Oh, and one more thing: I've heard that Aelita's mother's name is Anthea on the show.. The problem is that I'm not sure if it's spelled 'Antea' or 'Anthea.' I'll just kept it to 'Anthea.' (:**

**'Kay, so goodbye! PEACE!**


	4. Escape

**Five follows! That's pretty awesome! So this is a pretty short chapter, but hey, it's only been a day... Anyway, sit back, relax, and enjoy Chapter 3 of 'The Shadow's Fighters!' (:**

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Chapter 3: Escape

During the first day of war, Aelita hid beneath her bed, hugging her legs. She cried silently as she thought about what might've happened to her parents, swearing to God one day that she will get rid of Dominik. She hopefully thought of the possibility that her father did know that this was coming, and that because of it, they would get out of this unharmed. But that just seemed too good to be true. It's out of reach.

* * *

Dominik sits in his throne, previously owned by King Francais. It is made out of pure gold, complete with plush, velvety, red cushions, a very comfortable place to sit in. He rests his chin in his right hand, an evil smirk on his face, carefully contemplating the next country to easily demolish. When he was thinking about Spain being the next target, one of his messengers comes up and stops at the foot of his throne, panting as if he had been running for miles. He bowed down to his new King, bangs falling over his eyes and medallion hanging loosely from his neck.

"What is it, Wick?" says Dominik, annoyed that someone as useless as him dared to interrupt his thoughts. "Do tell me."

Wick clears his throat, a bead of sweat falling slowly down his face. What information he was about to tell Dominik made him feel like a renegade, betraying his previous King. He looks up, seeing an irritated expression carved into Dominik's long, angular face, and hastily stands up. "Aye, um.. The staff is running frantically amongst the castle, looking for Princess Aelita. They seemed terribly worried about her. I was just thinking if you knew that there is in fact a Princess of France, thee would have killed her off by now."

Dominik's irritated expression evaporated, and what replaces it are widened eyes, a frown, and a furrowed brow, a face of surprise and anger. "Anthea and Francais…THEY HAD A DAUGHTER?" he angrily slams his fist on the throne, sending a wave of fear towards Wick and giving the whole room a sudden jolt. It seemed like he was indifferent towards the fact that the staff is running around the castle and causing chaos everywhere, only caring about the mysterious, unknown princess. He then inhales sharply, closes his eyes, and counts to ten, while Wick just stood there watching him, frightened about what he was going to do. "Wick, I bid you to send Adolf and Florian out to find the disappeared princess, and bring her to me," Dominik finally says.

Wick's anger came to the surface at boiling point, and looks at Dominik malevolently as he rubs his temples. Tears started to burn the back of his eyes as he thought about the incoming fate of his favorite child. But he knew that Francais and Anthea knew better, and that they surely did something to protect Aelita. He could just feel it. So, he relaxes his face, inhales deeply, and says, "Of course, your majesty. I shall talk to Adolf and Florian." He bows one last time, before turning away to find the two bodyguards, and to secretly tell certain someones to watch over Aelita.

* * *

_tap tap tap_

Aelita widens her eyes in fear as she hears the sounds of men's footsteps approaching. She hugs her legs closer to her, and bites her lip to will herself from screaming just as the door to her bedroom bursts open.

"Thou search here, while I search her bathroom," says a man Aelita guesses is one of Dominik's. "This is the only place we ne'r searched yet, so be sure to have searched thoroughly. Belike King Dominik will have us executed anon if we don't find thee fair maiden."

Aelita listens as the sounds of a pair of feet fade in the direction of the bathroom whilst the other one stays here. She hears the opening of her drawers, the throwing her of chairs, and the slamming of doors as the bodyguards forage for her.

"Aelita?" mocks one of the men. "Come out come out wherever thou are."

"Where could she be?" says the other man, coming back from the bathroom.

"Methinks she could have fled aroint..."

"Forsooth!"

Scratching their heads, the oblivious bodyguards of King Dominik sit down on the canopy bed to rest their exhausted legs. Aelita bites her lip even harder to keep herself from whimpering as the box spring and mattress of her bed press down heavily on her back. She then clenches her teeth as hard as she could, and tries to bear with the pain, along with the restraint caused by her corset. She holds her breath, and begs them mentally to lift off the pain.

"Let us go back to the sire," says one of the men finally, fear etched his face. "Mayhap he shall give us mercy and not execute us."

The two bodyguards take off, and Aelita sighs in relief as the pressure lifts off her back. She immediately slides out from under her bed, and retrieves her nightgown from her closet, for it was the lightest thing she could wear. Then, she changes out of her corset, takes her remaining allowance from her parents, and leaves the castle through her window.

Aelita ran through the castle's forests in the darkness of the night, not knowing where she was headed.

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**Author's Note: Good? Bad? I want your opinion, and suggestions for improvement! Thanks for reading! :)**

**Will Dominik find Aelita?**

**Where is Aelita headed?**

**Who are these certain someones?**

**Many questions are soon to be answered! PEACE! :)**

**Oh, and P.S: Exams were easy, just to let you know... even though most of you won't care. XD**


	5. Capture

**Hey guys! Here's a pretty long chapter to make up for the short one before. (: Hehe, I'm a nice person. So sit back, relax, and enjoy Chapter 4! (: It's getting good, I promise you! (: Thanks so much for the faves, follows, and reviews!**

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Chapter 4: Capture

"The Queen assigned us to another mission."

Three warriors, a German, a Japanese, and an Italian** (Try guess who they are!)** turn to their French leader with surprised faces. "Are you serious?" asks the Italian with widened eyes. "It's been so long since we've done anything exciting!"

"You mean like... two weeks?" teases the Japanese with raised eyebrows. The German laughs.

The French leader waves off their bickering. "It's Aelita Schaeffer. Dominik's looking for her, and Wick wants us to protect her. The Queen seemed dead serious," he says, pushing his glasses up the top of his nose bridge. A bell reverberates throughout the battlefield, cutting the French out. "-And being her usual self, she's calling us right now. Let's go."

* * *

It has been a few weeks, and Aelita is running out of options. She used up all of her allowance days ago, and now all she can do to satisfy her hunger is steal many things. Her nightgown hangs limp around her body now, a very big difference from a few weeks ago when the nightgown was snug around her body. Her cheekbones are even more prominent now, as if it is even possible. She was already too slim for her age, and now she looks just like a skeleton with flesh as a makeshift cover-up, concealing her true self: bones.

Today, she rests in a dark, empty alley between two towering buildings in Paris. It is the kind of alley that is covered with graffiti on both sides and garbage strewn all over, complete with a tall chain link fence serving as the door to her hiding place. This kind of alley would have frightened Aelita before, but given the circumstances, she didn't care. As the sun rose, it gave Aelita the sight of her glowing eyelids, and she reluctantly opens her eyes. Sadly, she sighs, and slowly gets up off her flattened cardboard box like the living dead, not wanting to face the day. Another day of starving, fatigue, and crime.

Her short, pink hair mangled, she walks over to the chain link fence, and leaves the alley through it. She looks to her left and right, and sees the supposedly happy residents of Paris enthusiastically chattering amongst themselves, while enjoying their food on their tiny cafe tables. But nothing could fool her. She knew that the sadness from the death of their beloved King overwhelmed them all, and all they did for now was live the last few days of their free lives as much as they could, for they knew that Dominik would come in a few days time to demand the loyalty of them all, or face the terrible consequences.

Scared for the fate of her city, Aelita, the victim of lost parents, lost honor, and lost home, slides down the faded brick wall and sobs, the tenth time since the deaths of her parents. It became almost a routine, redundant.

Once Aelita calmed down, she inhales sharply, and tries to stop her impulsive hiccups. She presses the heels of her hands into her eyes, trying to stop her streaming tears. The Princess then exhales deeply, not noticing the shrouded figure coming up behind her. It aggressively grabs her left arm, and jerks her back into the alley, screaming. "Open your eyessss," it hisses into her ear, causing her to shiver as its breath came in contact with her skin. Silently she obeys, and just when she was about to scream again, the knife it was holding in its hand came into view, and she stops. The 'person' is clothed in a dark blue robe, which conceals its face. It kind of reminds her of the dementors in 'Harry Potter.' She widens her eyes in fear, oblivious to what he was going to do next.

"You are a beauty," it says in its husky, scratchy voice. "It'ssss no wonder Dominik wantssss you. I'm sure you're deliciousssss." Slowly, it tilts Aelita's chin up, and she screams as a tongue slides out from where its face supposed to be. It slowly came closer, and stops once it was on top of Aelita's pursed lips. It takes its time as it slowly licks its way up, stopping at the very top. He does it repeatedly, ignoring Aelita's whines in disgust. She pushes him away forcefully, and kicks him in the groin, taking the chance to run out into the heavily populated sidewalks of Paris. Starting her run to the left, her wrist gets caught by another shrouded figure, and she tries to pull away.

"Let-me-go!" she yells.

"You're coming with us," says a kinder, smoother voice. Seeing how squirmy and traumatized Aelita is, he gives a hard look at the previous shrouded figure, who just arrived, seeming to have rebounded from the pain. "What did you do to her, Adolf?" he asks.

"I wasss jusst having sssome fun," says the guy who's supposedly Adolf.

"Well then, just blindfold her."

As Adolf blindfolds Aelita without giving consent, Aelita tries to fight back. She throws many punches and kicks, but they never seem to connect with any flesh. Finally giving up, she surrenders, and follows the two enemies to wherever they were bringing her, probably the last building she will ever enter.

* * *

"Yumi, thou art first."

"My pleasure, you're majesty," says Yumi Ishiyama, bowing to the Queen of Spain. Today, she chose to wear her usual Japanese kimono, and her shoulder-length raven hair is clipped into a half up, half down style by a gold, dragon engraved barrette. The kimono is half black, half red, decorated with a vast variety of patterns. Her black heel boots reach up to her ankles, and as she turns around to face the obstacles set out before her, she unsheathes her pink dual iron fans dotted with red flowers, waiting for the Queen's Signal.

The Queen slowly raises her arm, and abruptly waves it down. _Go._

Taking that as the signal, Yumi takes off.

* * *

Aelita's eyes couldn't see much, just blackness. As the two shrouded men she encountered before dragged her to wherever they were taking her, she tried to break free. Without the sense of sight, her attacks couldn't do much, lacking the factor of target. She received many cuts and bruises, having to stumble around the forest blindfolded, getting caught in many fallen branches.

When Aelita finally gave up, she stopped kicking and punching, and silently followed. As she walked, she tried to fit the puzzle pieces together, trying to find out where she was headed.

When she stumbles over another branch for the fifteenth time, and yes, she had been counting, she figures she is in the forest. The faint light that managed to penetrate through the blindfold slowly wanes as she walked, and the talk of all the people surrounding her completely disappeared. Then, it hit her. Light fading, urbanization absence. She is leaving Paris, and into the forest. The forest that secluded her castle from the city. She is heading for her castle, her home. Of course! Dominik is too clever. He knew that dragging her back to the place of her parent's deaths would not only crush her, but seeing that it had changed, into King Dominik territory would just give her an emotional breakdown. Luring her to her breakpoint, so he could watch and enjoy as she is psychologically tortured, a bonus.

But one thing bothers Aelita, the one thing that had been bothering her since her capture. Why hadn't anyone in Paris try to help her? Seeing a blindfolded girl being dragged away by two shrouded men, shouldn't that look the least bit suspicious?

Just when night fell, they stopped, seeming to have arrived to their destination. Aelita listens to the familiar creaks of the doors to her castle as they opened, and she is forcefully pushed into the blinding glowing light. To someone else, it would feel like a relief to enter a glowing place like this after wandering in the dark through the forests, but all Aelita could feel was hard hitting fear. Someone from behind kicked behind her legs with hostility, and it causes her to fall onto her knees. Once that was done, someone rips her blindfold off, and what Aelita saw before her was surprising. The castle looks exactly the same as she left it.

The two oak spiraling staircases in the center of the room were still the same, their steps still lined with the red carpet. The balcony's walls at the top of the stairs are still lined with banners and her family's coat of arms. The gold shimmery chandelier still hung from its place on the ceiling, casting light upon the room. This put her in a state of joy, and as she was finally starting to have a happy moment, she is placed back into a state of suspicion. Why did Dominik lead her back here without changing the place at all? What is his strategy in killing her? Pondering her mind about this, she sees Dominik standing on the balcony, scrutinizing her.

"Aelita Schaeffer," he says, walking down the left branch of stairs. He takes his time, riding his hand along the cool, oak banister, his cape trailing behind him. "Ex-Princess of France, daughter of the now dead Francais and Anthea Schaeffer. I welcome thou. To celebrate this," he chuckles, "_pleasant_ capture, we shall throw a ball in thy honor."

He then walks up to Aelita and tilts her chin up to inspect her face, taking in her features. Aelita gives him a malevolent glare, but he didn't seem to care. He then withdraws his hand, and continues, "Of course, my fair maiden, thee are invited. Thee are required to come."

Aelita thought about this. "_What is this mysterious man's strategy_?" she thinks to herself. "_Why is thou forcing me to go to his ball? And how did he manage to get me all the way here without anyone's suspicion_?" Hesitantly, Aelita clears her throat, and proceeds, "I shall be honored to attend to thy ball, but may I ask thee a question?"

Dominik rubs his chin. He came to the conclusion that he will, and that if she asks him an unanswerable question, a lie will be given. "Go on," he says, waving his hand.

"It much so bothers me how thee managed to drag me all the way here without arousing any interest. What did you do? Disappearing spell? Memory wipe? Brainwashing? As you can see, I cannot seem to think of any sensible explanation."

"Easy," says King Dominik, smiling deceivably. "The Items of Schaeffer. My henchmen used the Cloak of Visibility and Sound, much like the invisibility cloak in that book you like to read.. What was it?"

"Harry Potter.." says Aelita faintly, raising her eyebrows. She loved the feeling of adventure stories, especially old ancient ones like this one, filled with excitement and mystery. "How did you know that?" What crept her out even more was that there were actually objects like that in existence, objects that not much knew about, objects that she only read about.

"I have my sources.." says Dominik, not having the time to explain to her something as unimportant as that. "For now, my fellow staff will manage thy apparel for the ball." He turns towards the staff around him, who seem to just have arrived. "And do make her look comely, many people are coming."

"Our pleasure, your majesty," bows Dominik's staff.

* * *

"Wonderful, Yumi. Odd, thou art next," says the Queen of Spain.

"Aye, your majesty!" says the teenager cheerfully, taking fighting stance. Odd Della-robbia, Italian archer. He wears a loose fitting white tunic, tucked into black bermuda shorts. His thin waist is clasped in a black belt, emphasizing his svelte figure. His blonde hair is dramatically spiked up, and in the center dots a purple diamond. In his right hand, he grasps a large archer's bow, his weapon.

"Go ahead, Odd," smiles the Queen.

And with that, he takes off.

* * *

Aelita is escorted to her bedroom by Wick, one of her best friends. She felt so close to him that she thought of him as an uncle, and it broke her heart that it was him that was going to lead her to the place where she would get prepared for somewhere she dreaded to attend. When she arrived to her bedroom, Wick leans in and whispers into her ear, "Be careful."

Aelita nods in response, and gives him a smile. Worried about his well being, she says, "Don't worry about me. If I get executed, my parents will be there, waiting for me."

Subsequent to that, Wick hugs her. When he pulls away, he kisses her on the forehead.

* * *

An hour later, Aelita emerges from her bedroom, all cleaned and dressed up. Her short pink hair is freshly washed, having picked up a lot of grime while on the streets. All of her gowns now too big and loose for her, she chose to wear a gown that laced up from the back, having asked for assistance to lace it up tighter. It is an emerald green floor length gown with white, puffy sleeves, complementing her emerald green eyes. She wears white stiletto heels, and finishes off the arrangement with a pale green transparent veil.

When she walks out of her bedroom, she sees Wick standing just outside waiting for her.

"Let's go," he says.

* * *

"Bravo, Odd," applauded the Queen once Odd finishes the obstacle course. He walks in a proud gait to stand next to Yumi, who happily gave her close friend compliments. "Ulrich, thou art next."

"My pleasure, your majesty," says Ulrich Stern, the experienced swordsmen of the group. He sports a traditional black button-down tunic, paired with white slacks. And his dark brown hair is styled in its usually shaggy way, even further emphasizing his angular and pointed face. He closes his eyes in concentration, and waits for the signal to go off.

"Go."

* * *

Aelita is led to the ballroom arm in arm with Wick. She takes in all of the aspects of her home; red carpet, stone walls, elaborate banners, for it was all she could manage to do before she is thrown to her brink of death. Wick nods to the guards, and they unenthusiastically pushed open the doors for them. What revealed to be behind them took Aelita's breath away. Even though she was familiar with the room, it still managed to sweep her with surprise. Unlike all the other places in her home, it is walled and floored with shiny white marble, crystal chandeliers hanging from the high ceiling. Long tables line along the walls covered with an array of foods: roasted sirloin, baked pastries, teas, soups, and salads. It makes Aelita's mouth water, and it causes her to realize that she hadn't eaten in weeks. What stood ahead of her is King Dominik's throne, and she looks at it with disgust. What she also sees is that the ball's theme is masquerade; everyone's faces were covered in whimsical masks. They're dancing happily, even though they know that they are in the presence of a slaughtering, tyrannical king. This puzzles Aelita the most.

"Ah, it looks like our guest of honor has joined us," booms Dominik's voice from across the room. He just sat himself down on the throne, and now he is grinning with excitement, frightening Aelita. His voice grabs everyone's attention and everyone stops dancing, listening to the King in utter silence, "Welcome Aelita. Grab something to eat."

Aelita's eyes roamed the room, and they settle on the tables of food. "_They could be poisoned_," Aelita thinks to herself, "_since it looks like the food has been untouched. No one has eaten anything._"

She keeps her composure, and replies, "Perhaps I'll eat anon, your majesty. I thank you nevertheless."

Dominik's jaw twitches, but only for a second. It goes on unnoticed to everyone, even to Aelita.

"Thy choice, Aelita," says Dominik, easily keeping a cool head.

* * *

The night continues without Aelita getting the slightest sign. She dances, with men she didn't know, probably friends of King Dominik, and notices their strange behavior.

Once another classical song was concluded, Aelita was soon taken to another man. He grasps her hand, bowing down to plant a kiss, as Aelita just wanders her eyes around the ballroom. Her eyes again for the millionth time tonight fall on the tables of food, and she turns away immediately. As she surveys the room, something looks out of place, and she finally figures out what it is. King Dominik isn't here.

As she dances with the unknown man, she grows uncomfortable to the silence between them. Trying to break the ice, she starts conversation.

"Good eve, how do you do?" she asks, laying her eyes on the man's concealed face.

No answer.

Aelita takes it as a rude gesture, and tries again, this time more forcefully. She clears her throat, and says, "Do you not love the stars out tonight? They're just beautiful."

No answer.

Choosing to keep her mouth shut, the two danced in silence.

* * *

"Please….just…stop," pleads Wick. His blonde bangs cling to his forehead from the sweat drenching his face. He clenches his stomach, crouching to his knees. He is trapped inside a small room, alone. It's pitch black, and Wick couldn't visualize the door. He sits in a pool of his own blood, deep large gashes covering every inch of his body, wounds caused by the wave of a hand. King Dominik's hand. Literally.

"No," answers King Dominik simply. He laughs maniacally, and Wick shuts his eyes, bracing for his next words. "Slaughtering Hand of Schaeffer!" he yells. He waves his hand in the air, and Wick screams in pain as a new freshly cut wound materializes along his scalp. Dominik waves it again, and another cut forms all the way down his left calf. Wick tries to scream again, but only a gurgling sound managed to escape. He widens his eyes and clenches his stomach as he vomited up another load of blood. Wick shivers, and Dominik laughs even louder. "You betrayed me, Wick," says Dominik. "Now tell me who you told my plan to, and thy life will be spared."

Wick closes his eyes and moans as Dominik's voice reverberated throughout the room, seeming to come out of nowhere. Recovering the slightest, he smiles up into the ceiling, and says calmly, "No."

Dominik slams his fist onto the table, and watches through the security camera as Wick just lays there, his breath shallow. Dominik wears a golden glove with pointed fingers and studded jewels on his left hand, and looking down on it, he says the four words that put Wick to his death.

* * *

**Author's Note: How was that? Like it? Hate it? Let me know! :) I worked really, really hard on this chapter, so reviews are highly appreciated! That shrouded dude is a pedo...Oh, and just so you're wondering, the Items of Schaeffer are inspired by Xiaolin Showdown's Shen Gong Wu, except without all the revealings and expeditions for them. (:**

**3,000 words in this chapter! I feel so accomplished.**


	6. Rescue Mission

**Wassup! I'm getting a bit of positive feedback, and I am appreciative of that. (:**

**zhuxixi: Thanks so much for the many reviews! And yes, LOL, Adolf, as in Adolf Hitler. I was on a rush of thinking names... and that was the first Germanish name that came to my mind.. and that dude is pretty evil. :) Geez.. I'm thinking to much about the Holocaust.**

**aelitalyoko99: Thanks so much! I promise I will keep it up! :)**

**A Small Voice: Thanks so much! :)**

**AelitaOfTheWolves: Thanks so much! And thanks for the fave! :)**

**And to all of you who somehow was able to show you enjoy reading, or think my story is interesting, I thank you all, because this is what motivates me to keep on going. (:**

** Here's Chapter 5, the longest chapter ever, for all of you guys. So sit back, relax, and enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 5: Rescue Mission

Jeremie," summons the Queen, "proceed and tell of thy plan."

"I will be honored, your majesty," answers a voice as the automatic doors of the battlefield slide open. Emerging is Jeremie Belpois, navigator and minor weapons smith of the group. His thick lensed bifocals shone in the blazing sunlight, and his bright blonde hair is styled in a neat way, his bangs long. He wears a plain deep blue t-shirt, dirty from all the minor weapon-making over a pair of black trousers. When he arrived at the foot of the Queen's throne, he politely bowed, his hair falling over his eyes. He then spreads a large map of the vast land of Eurasia on the floor, and immediately starts the telling of his well carefully thought plan.

He starts, "As you can see, Mr. Dominik has taken over many countries, even yonder Japan." Yumi lowers her head, and Jeremie nods in apology. "Thou has just recently conquered France, and it is to my knowing that Princess Aelita, daughter of the dead rulers, Queen Anthea and King Francais has fled during the war between Germany and her home country, France. Wick tells me King Dominik has sent two of his most loyal bodyguards, Adolf and Florian to capture Aelita in Paris after spotting her betimes. Unfortunately, it is too late for us to rescue Miss Aelita, but there is one more thing we are able to do. Wick also says that after King Dominik has been well met with thou young mistress, he will throw a ball this e'en in her honor, out of fair amusement. Tonight, after the ball, the King will most likely take Aelita down to the lowest floor of the castle, where he will watch as his fellow helpers slaughter Aelita. Right before he takes Aelita down, the Castle should be fairly empty, for the ball has ended. This is when we shall break in, and rescue the Princess. I will tell specifically what to do when we reach the castle, and assist in navigating inside, for I have a complete floorplan of the France Castle." Jeremie rolls up the large map, and bows before he walks away, exiting the door of the battlefield.

"Ye all heard him," says the Queen, taken aback by his sudden and abrupt exit. "Prepare for tonight's mission, and be careful. I cannot afford to lose one of you just from rescuing a careless, witless Princess."

The three remaining soldiers nod in unison, and leave just as Jeremie.

* * *

Aelita dances with the twentieth man tonight. When she was in the middle of a dip, she sees another shrouded figure approach her. Panicking, she quickly pulls herself up, her veil falling over her face. She nonchalantly shakes it off, and acts like she never saw it, pouring as much of her mind as she could into her dancing. A few minutes into the song, she sees her dance partner pause, and he nods at something in back of her. Something taps her shoulder from behind, and leaving her dance partner's hands, she whips around, frightened. And easily enough, it was the shrouded figure she saw approaching previously.

"The King wishes to see you," says the shrouded figure in a monotonous tone. Aelita nods obediently, and he continues, "I'll lead the way."

Aelita turns back around to give thanks for the dance, but sees that he already left.

* * *

The shrouded man took her through the ballroom's doors. They turn left at the fork, and descend the stairs at the end of the hall. As she trailed down the stairs in the man's wake, fear cumulated inside her. It got darker as she descended deeper down the stairs, and soon after, no light was present at all. She took caution as to not miss any steps, gliding her hands along the dingy stone wall for support. She had never been in this area of her home.

Aelita and the shrouded figure climb down the stairs in eerie silence.

* * *

"Can we get into the castle now?" whispers Odd. He and his teammates stay concealed behind a group of bushes, waiting for their leader's signal to go.

Jeremie eyes the castle's windows. Light still poured through them. "Not just yet," he answers.

Odd groans, producing an annoyed look towards his direction from Ulrich.

"I don't get it," says Odd, clearly annoyed. "Why the heck are we hiding behind bushes when we can easily take out the guards, and all the people attending the ball? Does the Queen think we're too weak? If that's it, then she does not know Odd Della-robbia!"

"No, it's just that she doesn't want any of us to die tonight," says Yumi quietly, not daring to think of the possibility. "Besides, we've never really fought King Dominik and his henchmen head on before, so we don't know what they're capable of."

Having nothing more to use as retaliation, Odd finally closes his mouth shut, feeling defeated.

* * *

The pair finally reaches the bottom of the stairs, which lead to a hall lit with torches. Aelita sighs in relief, happy that she could finally be in the presence of light again. Back at the stairs, she felt claustrophobic, not being able to see anything around her. Just pitch black.

As she walks down the dimly lit hall, Aelita thought about King Dominik's strategy. What is he going to do to her? Why are the attendants of the ball so strange? And especially, why the heck are the Items of Schaeffer named after her surname? Surely her ancestors aren't dumb enough to invent mystical items that are most likely going to be used for destruction.

Just as she thought of the last question, the shrouded figure rides his hand along the hall, his long flowing sleeve concealing it. When he reaches where he wanted to, he opens the door, and forcefully pushes Aelita inside. Aelita stumbles in and falls to her knees, pushing her arms out for support as she landed.

She gets up and turns around to leave, but sees that the door has shut behind her, disappearing in the blackness.

That's when she notices that her hands were wet and warm, covered in something that was unknown to her. She later finds that her knees are covered in it as well. Smelling her hands, the scent of copper floods her nose and Aelita found that only one liquid smells like that.

She is covered in blood.

But not _her_ blood though. She isn't in any pain, except from the faint sting of her hands from the impact of the fall. Aelita recoils in disgust, and dizziness overcomes her, the heavy scent of blood enveloping her nose. Keeping calm in the presence of copious amounts of the liquid was not exactly her strong point. Not even in movies did she feel comfortable seeing unbelievable amounts of blood, for she didn't believe that that much blood even flows inside the body.

But she was seeing it-no, more like feeling it right now. As she crawls along the black floor, the blood becomes thicker, the scent becoming stronger. Eventually, most of the blood starts to pool around an object she runs her hands into. Aelita feels hair, eyelids, and a nose. What is before her is a person's body. A dead body.

And like that, Aelita curls up in the vast blackness and screams.

* * *

"This isn't right," says Jeremie, locking his eyes on the castle's windows, still pouring with light. "I'd thought that Dominik would have ended the ball by now."

"Well then let's go then!" yells Odd happily, punching his fist into the air. Adrenaline starts to flood through his veins, putting him close into a hyper state. "Let's show them what we can do." He then rubs his hands together, a maniacal grin spreading across his face.

Ulrich slaps his hand hard on Odd's chest, sending him down onto the grass. After he caught his breath, Odd looks up to him with a frown, and Ulrich just looks back at him as if he were stupid. "Not yet," he hisses to Odd, causing Odd to frown even more. "And stop yelling like that, you'll blow our cover!"

Odd face palms Ulrich with his left hand, and sits back up.

And that's when they found out that surrounding them were dozens of cloaked figures.

* * *

Aelita shivers intensely, the feeling of fear consuming her until nothing was left. She shuts her eyes, thinking that this was it. This is the place she will die in. Her death room.

"Welcome Aelita." Dominik's voice booms across the room. Aelita moans and shuts her eyes, a sickening feeling overcoming her. She clears her mind, and stands up, having recovered slightly.

"Where are you!" she yells, clenching her fists. "I hate you- you bottle-ale rascal! Thou killed someone! You mongrel bit-"

"Now now," says Dominik, chuckling, causing Aelita to narrow her eyes. "These ugly words shan't be coming out of a comely nonpareil like you."

"Who'd you kill. I demand an answer." Aelita shakes in anger, trying to keep her voice from quivering.

"You wouldn't want to know."

"Who'd you kill."

"Someone very acquainted with you, your only family left."

Aelita widens her emerald eyes. How _dare_ he kill Wick! "Go to hell."

"You are going to regret saying that," says Dominik in a confident tone. "Slaughtering Hand of Schaeffer!" he yells.

"Excuse me?" asks Aelita, confused at why he yelled that strange string of words. "What in the world is that supposed to -ah!" What felt like fire licking her leg, she pushes her hand on it, and feels a warm, thick liquid starting to leak onto her skin. She then brings her hand up to her face, and takes a deep whiff of it. Copper. Blood. "What are thou _doing_?! You're not even touching me!"

"Another Item of Schaeffer."

"Well stop it, there is a deep gash on my left leg now!"

"Do you think I care? I am trying to _kill_ thou."

Aelita opens her mouth into a large 'o.'

Then Dominik waves his hand more times repeatedly, causing more severe gashes all along Aelita's body, ripping through her dress. "Stop!" she yells, but Dominik didn't listen. Another gash forms on her shoulder, and she automatically grips it. Aelita starts to lose consciousness as she loses more and more blood, and when she thought she couldn't handle any more, blackness engulfs her, and she passes out.

* * *

"You got a plan, Jeremie?" asks Yumi as she backs up with the others. The shrouded figures crowd around them, as the team became more and more frightened.

"Not really," replies Jeremie, rubbing his chin and giving him a look of calmness. "What about we fight them, like Odd said, we can easily take them down."

Ulrich frowns and turns to face Jeremie. "You can never trust his instincts."

"Well it's the only plan we've got, isn't it?" replies Jeremie.

Taking this as a sign, the team splits up, fighting off their own groups of foes.

Ulrich runs towards the castle's large double doors, but finds himself surrounded with at least a dozen cloaked figures. He unsheathes his twin blades as the enemies start to surround him, and quickly spins around, with the blades pointed outwards. The gleaming blades to slice right through them, and they quickly dissipate into thin air. Ulrich widens his eyes in a state of confusion, fear, and faint sickness.

Running even closer towards the double doors, another cloaked figure appears right in front of him, blocking his way. Ulrich growls in annoyance, and charges. Just when he was about to reach the cloaked figure, it lifts its arm, and yells, "Force Field Guardian!"

The ring on its finger erupts with blue light and it envelopes the enemy, protecting him. Ulrich tried to get through, slicing at it with his swords, but to no avail. The cloaked figure only laughs. Ulrich curses to himself, and says, "Fine, so be it, you're not the only ones with Items of Schaeffer." He slides one of his swords back into its case, and he yells, "Sword of Schaeffer!"

The sword still in his hand vibrates as energy starts to generate inside it. Trying to get more control, Ulrich clasps it with both hands, and when it reaches its full generating capacity, he swings it outward. A blasting wave of energy slices through the air, and impacts with the force field, causing it to shatter like glass. The cloaked enemy frowns, and unsheathes his own sword.

"A good old fashioned land duel, I like it," says Ulrich. The cloaked figure aims for his legs, trying to trip him, but Ulrich was too fast. With great agility, he leaps into the air, causing the sword coming at him miss by a few inches. With his sword in his right hand, he swoops it down to the left, connecting with the cloaked figure's sword, and brings it upward. The sword in its hand escapes and flies into the air, Ulrich being the one to catch with his right hand. Falling towards the ground, Ulrich throws both swords at it, which end up sliding cleanly through its abdomen. This all happens in one fluid motion, and the enemy's laying corpse disintegrates into gray dust, starting from the feet and working its way up.

Satisfied, Ulrich finally arrives at the doors, and yells for the others to come.

Odd was just finishing off another group of six cloaked figures when he hears Ulrich's call. He leads the enemies towards the forest, and climbs up a tree, stopping at a branch. Odd jumps off, quickly aiming and launching his arrows at the foes before him. His arrows connected with all six of them, Odd having impeccable aiming.

When he lands on the forest's floor bursting highly with confidence, Jeremie meets up with him, and smiles. He says, "Awesome, Odd, you didn't need me to reload your arrows this time."

"Excuse me, but I happen to have gotten better since I joined the army," Odd says jokingly.

"Let's go," says Jeremie, nodding his head towards the castle. "Ulrich's calling."

"Right."

After Yumi took down another one of Dominik's cloaked figures, she soon found herself trapped between two others, one in front of her and one behind her, as if Dominik replaced him with two more. When the man in front of her tried to trip over her legs with the swish of his sword, Yumi jumps up and does a back flip, but lands too close to the other foe in back of her. Soon after, she catches the gleam of his sword against the gleaming moonlight in the corner of her eye, and then feels a stinging sensation in her left hip. She immediately places her hand on it, wincing, and sees bright red seeping through her white glove. He had attacked her from behind. As blood continued to soak her already red shirt, she unsheathes her iron fan with a shing!, and deflects the second incoming plunge behind her. She spins to the right, and lunges towards the enemy ahead of her, slashing aimlessly. She slashes to the left, then to the right, guiding the outer metal spokes on the fan across his skin, ripping through his clothes. This causes a deep and large diagonal gash all along the front of his torso, along with multiple shallow gashes across his chest. As he staggers back and falls over, Yumi quickly whips around and unsheathes the other fan, throwing both towards the other man.

Like throwing ninja stars, the fans spin, slicing the air. Noticing this, Dominik's man simply steps to the left, the fans barely grazing his cheek, getting caught in the tree behind him. He then dives towards the surprised Yumi, his sword pointed towards her. Yumi then spins to the left, and runs quickly past him. Using her right arm as leverage, she forcefully sideways kicks the man from behind with both feet, and he falls forward. She then sprints to the tree, climbs it up, and pulls the iron fans out of the tree trunk, leaving two large gashes in the bark. Jumping off, she throws a fan forcefully towards the still fallen foe. It caught in his back, like a knife, and strangely, Yumi didn't see any blood blooming from his back. Instead, the unconscious body just disintegrates into gray dust, leaving the fan to fall onto the plush cushion of grass. She then notices too, that the other man's corpse she took down previously strangely disappeared into thin air as well. She cautiously backs away, and runs off to find the others.

"Uhh, guys, I think something's off here.. I don't know what happened, but I saw my enemies disintegrate into thin air?" asks Yumi when she meets the other three. "Did you guys notice it?"

Odd, Jeremie, and Ulrich turn around to look at Yumi. As she looks at all three of them, she notices that they are all in deep thought. They nod in unison. As they continued to look at Yumi with concentrated eyes, Ulrich's was the first to relax, and his eyes fell onto Yumi's right hand. It's soaked in blood.

"What the hell happened to you?" asks Ulrich, gently caressing her hand. Yumi flinches, and as she pulled away, the last of the adrenaline from the fight dissipated, leaving her with the agonizing pain in her hip. She screams in pain and closes her eyes, putting pressure on the wound. She then sits down, plastering worry onto her teammate's faces.

"Are you going to be okay?" asks Jeremie.

"Yeah," says Yumi, swallowing, her throat raw. "I'm fine."

"We have to go home," says Odd. "She won't last long in this pain."

"And halt the mission?" asks Jeremie. "We can't just leave. Aelita needs help."

"Seriously guys, I'm fi-"

"Don't you have bandages, Jeremie?" asks Ulrich.

"Yeah, but uh, her cut's pretty deep. I don't know if it'll help." He rubs the back of his neck awkwardly.

"It'll have to do."

"Are you sure?" asks Yumi, doubtful. "I'll just wait this one out."

"Okay," says Jeremie. Ulrich starts to dig through the first aid kit Jeremie brought with him, and emerges with a roll of gauze and first-aid tape. He strolls toward Yumi, and crouches down to meet with her face.

Ulrich places his hand on Yumi's shoulder and says, "Lift your shirt up."

Yumi felt a pang of shock. A little uncomfortable by the attention given to her, she obediently rolls her shirt up a few inches, revealing the wound on her side. The wound is really grotesque, but Ulrich didn't show any sign of disturbance. He keeps a straight face as he treats the wound and Yumi flinches again as pain shot through her body in sudden bursts.

When Ulrich was finished, Yumi fixes her shirt back into place, and says, "Thank you."

Ulrich nods, and turns toward Odd and Jeremie. "Let's go," he says, and opens the door.

And the three enter the castle.

* * *

Light.

That is what Aelita sees as she opened her eyes. She couldn't believe it, she is out of that room of endless darkness.

But that's when she notices that she is in something like a prison cell, trapped. Looking down on herself, a lot of gashes and wounds come to her vision, along with blood stained cushions. Dominik's henchmen dragged her here, still dripping immensely with blood.

Aelita tries to get up, but pain shot all throughout her body. It literally felt like it courses through her veins, in the small amount of blood she had left. She felt pale.

She tried to make the slightest movements, starting with her toes, to make sure she wasn't dreaming, or worse, dead. Laying there for what felt like hours, Aelita tries to sit herself up, but the slightest exertion of any major muscle put her in immense pain. It hurt to breathe.

What stood in front of her were metallic bars, probably to keep her in, and what surrounds her is plush white. Just white. "_Why hadn't Dominik kill me yet_?" she thinks to herself. Why?

* * *

Walking through the doors, Odd, Ulrich, and Jeremie wander their eyes around in amazement. The vast room that extends before them glows with pure beauty.

"Let's go," says Jeremie, pointing at the left set of stairs, "before Aelita gets hurt."

Odd and Ulrich nod in response, and the three run up the stairs, not bothering to sightsee. Reaching the top, they run through the left hall, and stop at a fork. They then take a right. When they reach the end of the hall, Odd asks, "Hey, weren't we just here before? The walls look exactly the same, with the same amount of doors, plus I don't see any kitchen, or dining room." He rubs his head, and says, "What is this, an apartment or something?"

"No," answers Jeremie. "The architecture of this building was chosen just to confuse intruders. The hall leading to the door to the basement has the Schaeffer family's coat of arms, an inconspicuous landmark."

Just like Jeremie said, the halls lead to the basement door, and Ulrich had to nudge it a few times to get it to open. Once opened, the trio walks down the stairs in a quick pace, despite the darkness enveloping them.

Reaching the bottom, Jeremie looks around. All is eerie and quiet, as if no one is here. Just dimly lit torches.

"Uh, I think you made a mistake, Jeremie," says Ulrich, turning towards his friend with an annoyed face. "No one's here."

"That's odd," replies Jeremie, his bifocals sliding down his nose bridge. He pushes them back up, and says, "I think they finished Aelita."

"What do you mean finished?" asks Odd, clearly not getting the idea.

"I think they ki-"

A scream erupted from down the hall, cutting Jeremie off and catching the trio's full attention.

* * *

Aelita tries to wrestle out of the metal clamps around her wrists, ankles, and hip as one of Dominik's henchmen tortures her. So far, she got a shallow gash on her cheek, nothing too serious. But every part of her body still stings in pain.

Inside Dominik's henchman's hand is a tiny dagger, slowly dripping with Aelita's blood. He slowly hovers the sharp end right in front of Aelita's forearm, and she shuts her eyes, bracing for the immense pain that is sure to come. Without giving a warning, the cloaked figure dives the tip into Aelita's forearm, until it came out on the other side. Aelita screams in pain, and tears start to go down her cheeks. She pleads and sobs for the man to stop. But he doesn't listen. He rides the dagger out, and stabs it again, in the same place, but this time, he turns it 360 degrees, a full circle, causing the deepest wound yet. You could just hear the squish of flesh as it happened. Aelita screams again, and nearly forgets how it feels to feel good.

"_Stop_," she pleads.

* * *

"Did you guys hear that?" asks Ulrich, turning to face Odd and Jeremie. Odd nods in response, whereas Jeremie digs into his satchel, retrieving a tightly folded blueprint, the castle's floor plan. Taking a few seconds to glance at it, he points down towards the disappearing end of the hall.

"The prison cells," he says.

Walking down the hall, the doors lining the walls disappear, and what replaces them are prison cells. The first one's occupied: a princess dripping with blood and a cloaked figure with a blood-stained dagger in his hand are in it.

"The cell's locked," says Odd, frowning. He pulls at the bars, trying to break them free.

"It'll do no good to just pull at the bars, they'll never break," says Jeremie. "We have to try another tactic."

"Like?" asks Ulrich, raising an eyebrow. Another scream erupts from the princess's mouth, causing the three to have to cover their ears.

"The Items of Schaeffer."

"Which one?" asks Ulrich.

"The Sword of Schaeffer," answers Jeremie, certain of it. "Charge it up, and release the energy on the prison bars."

"But won't that kill the princess? I mean, the prison bars are like butter, and it won't stop there. The charge of energy will keep on preceding forward, and it'll possibly slice through the henchman and the princess!"

"Not if you aim for the metal clamp around her waist."

"What?"

"Okay, so think of it like this," says Jeremie. "The charge of energy will slice through the prison bars, plus the henchman, but it'll leave the princess unharmed. The charge of energy would have weakened enough to not slice through the metal clamp, dissipating on contact. If you don't aim for the metal clamp, it'll hit her and cause severe damage to the princess."

"Aye, I get it," says Odd. "Just level the charge of energy with the clamp around her waist. Luckily, I have impeccable aiming."

"Well then, hurry up!" says Ulrich, handing the sword to Odd. Another scream erupts, and the three flinch again.

Odd clasps both hands around the sword's hilt, levels the sword with the metal clamp, and yells, "Sword of Schaeffer!"

The sword starts to glow white, starting at the hilt. It starts it way up to the tip, all the while vibrating strongly. When it reaches its full capacity, Odd swings it outwards, and a white string of light slices its way through the bars. Like Ulrich said, the string of light keeps on moving, and it slices through the henchman. It evaporates into gray dust, causing Aelita's eyes to widen. When the light finally makes contact with the metal clamp around her waist, it dissipates, and everything settles down.

Odd, Jeremie, and Ulrich make their way into the prison cell. They walk to the back wall, where Aelita was chained onto. They release the metal clamps, and Ulrich helps steady her as she gets down. Aelita screams in pain.

And that's when a numerous amount of cloaked figures flash before them.

Aelita widens her eyes, and starts to inch back towards the wall, ignoring the searing hurt. Jeremie, Odd, and Ulrich turn around, and start to worry.

"Are you going to be okay?" asks Jeremie, concern evident on his face.

Aelita swallows, and chokes out one word. "No."

And she falls back onto the floor as she loses consciousness.

"She looks like hell," says Ulrich, crouching down next to Aelita, looking at the infinite amount of cuts and wounds covering her body. "What should we do?"

"Forget her for now," says Jeremie, taking a glance at Aelita. "Just you and Odd fight them, and I'll stay back with Aelita and tend her wounds."

"Right," says Odd and Ulrich simultaneously.

As Odd and Ulrich take off to fight the foes, Jeremie examines Aelita, shocked at how much damage someone can cause. He takes Aelita's pulse, placing his thumb on her inner wrist, and looks at his watch. "_She's fine_," he thinks to himself. "_You better not die on me, Aelita_." He then checks her breathing. It's really shallow. He digs into his satchel, emerging with first aid tape and gauze. He starts with wrapping her wounds up.

Ulrich uses the Sword of Schaeffer, slicing through a large amount of cloaked figures at one go. But just when he destroyed some, more came. As if they were being replaced. The battle is going nowhere.

Odd notices it too, and turns to look at Jeremie, lowering his bow. "Jeremie, no one is winning! What the heck are we supposed to do? I'm wasting all my arrows!"

"Just hold on!" answers Jeremie. "Just until I think of something.. Someone has to carry Aelita though."

"I'll do it," answers Ulrich reluctantly.

"Okay."

Ulrich slices another group of cloaked figures, and runs to Aelita, picking her up bridal style. He then runs for the stairs, Odd and Jeremie trailing behind him. Odd protected from the front, shooting his arrows at whoever came close, whereas Jeremie protected from the back, stabbing his short daggers at whoever tried to attack Ulrich behind.

They made it out through the castle's doors unharmed. Dominik's henchmen still trailed behind them. They met Yumi outside, and she gets up, surprised at what she saw before her, Jeremie _fighting_ and Ulrich carrying the Princess. Her eye slightly twitches from the latter.

When the three boys arrived close enough to Yumi, Ulrich yells out, "Yumi, let's go! We have no time to lose!"

Slowly nodding, Yumi gets up, and retrieves her golden dragon engraved barrette from her jet-black hair. Her hair falling loose around her face, she throws the barrette into the air and says, "Dragon Teleportation."

The barrette glows with red light, concealing it. As the light settles, the barrette had disappeared, having been replaced with an endless red void.

The team jumps into it, and the void closes, leaving Domink's henchmen behind.

* * *

**Author's Note: Just so you're wondering, the Sword of Schaeffer is inspired by episode 49: Franz Hopper, when X.A.N.A. gave them new and improved weapons. Ulrich's new sword was able to do this whole energy blast thingy, and I love it! So cool. **

**So how was it? Click the review button! :)**


	7. Eurasia's Army

**Hey guys! Thanks so so much for the reviews, follows, and faves! You make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, LOL. Here's Chapter 6. So sit back, relax, and enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 6: Eurasia's Army

"I'm telling you, it was nothing! Nothing happened between us!"

Yumi laughs coldly, her back towards Ulrich, and arms crossed. She whips around, her face clearly displaying anger. "Huh. _Nothing_. You were _carrying_ her. Saving her like you're her Prince!"

Ulrich throws his arms into the air, clearly showing he's giving up. "Well someone had to do it! And how do you think _I_ feel whenever William is all over _you_?"

"Odd or Jeremie could've done it!" Yumi spats. She then whispers, "And me and William are just friends."

Ulrich shakes his head, and tugs lightly at his hair. He takes a deep breath and says calmly, "I don't know what's to get so worked up and jealous about."

"Well I don't _know_, she's beautiful, she's a Princess, highly respected, and she's _single_," says Yumi in a highly venomous and sarcastic tone while counting them off with her fingers. She starts her walk towards the door, and pauses. "And you're highly attractive if you don't notice."

And she leaves the room, the door sliding shut behind her. "And we're just good friends, she said," Ulrich mumbles, stuffing his hands into his pockets.

* * *

Aelita wakes up to the sounds of muffled punching, kicking, and grunting. Having no idea where she is, she lightly grunts as she sits up. What she was sleeping on was a thin blue mat, as she sits alone in a plain white room.

Aelita stands up, and walks to the sliding glass doors. She tries to pry it open, but couldn't. Trying again this time, she pushes forcefully, but the door rips off this time, and falls to the ground with the clatter of breaking glass.

Hundreds of pairs of eyes fall onto Aelita, and they stare in utter silence. They stopped whatever they were doing, and Aelita notices that they were _sparring_ with each other. What is this place? The door she just exited was just one of the countless doors that opened up to this large arena. The sliding glass doors are framed in white, and the large fighting area was just painted a plain dark brown. No windows.

Her face getting red, she says, "Good morrow. I bid ye all to tell me where I am. It will be a great help."

Aelita watches as smiles start to form on all of their faces. And almost immediately, they start their laughter, some falling down onto the floor. She couldn't believe it. She looks down at her bare feet, concealing her tomato-red face from their line of vision.

"I think that is quite enough."

All stop, and turn their heads towards the voice. Aelita looks ahead of her, and sees Jeremie, the guy who was present during her escape, one of the few who helped her with her escape from the hands of King Dominik. Behind him stood Yumi, Odd, and Ulrich, all giving the fighters a hard stare.

"How _dare_ you guys make fun of her," says Yumi, shaking her head. "She is of royal blood; of course she will speak a bit differently."

"You guys should be respecting her," says Jeremie.

The fighters bow before them, mumble their apologies, and continue with fighting each other, giving the four of them time to walk to Aelita.

"I thank you," she says.

"No need to thank us," says Odd, waving it off. "It's about time those brats listen to me. I deserve it!"

"You didn't even say anything," points out Ulrich.

"Eh, whatever."

"Anyway," says Jeremie, pointing his gaze back at Aelita. "You're coming with us. The Queen wants to chat with you."

"Th-the Queen?" asks Aelita, confused. "What country are we in?"

"Spain," answers Yumi.

Aelita nods, surprised, and the four take off towards the Queen's headquarters.

* * *

"Agh!" King Dominik slams his fist on his throne. "How dare you let the Princess escape!"

"We're truly sorry, sire," says Adolf and Florian in unison. Adolf continues, "We don't know who even helped with her esssscape, they were foreign trespassserssss."

"Foreign trespassers, eh?" asks King Dominik, stroking his chin. "Well, next time they come to foil my plans, I will have a plan to make sure our little friends will not get away with this."

* * *

Aelita is led to the south end of the arena, where she watched as Jeremie got his hand scanned on the interface that stood next to the door. The door slid open, and they enter a large open foyer, the battlefield. The sun beats down on them, heating up the abundant gravel, and they had to shield their eyes. It is blistering hot, and Aelita feels herself start perspiring. They walk straight ahead, and at the far end of the battlefield, Jeremie scans his hand again, and they enter.

What stood before them was an exquisite palace. The tiled floor was various shades of blue and white, arranged into a picture of the sun and the moon. In every corner, there is a Bromeliaceae, and what stood in center is the Queen's throne, right in front of a small, man-made waterfall.

All four of the fighters kneel on their knees in front of the Queen, and Aelita follows suit. The Queen nods in approval, and they slowly rise.

"Welcome," says the Queen in a kind tone, pointing her gaze at Aelita. "I see that thee has recovered well from the unfortunate wounds Mister Dominik put upon you."

"Uh, ye-" Aelita looks down on herself, and is surprised to see that all of her wounds have gone away completely, and no scars remain. She hadn't noticed it before. All of her strength is back, and she could now walk upright without the slightest bit of pain. This confuses her. "H-how-"

"The Healing Hand of Schaeffer," says the Queen, smiling. "It provides you with instant healing, the complete opposite of what that evil man was using on you."

"I thank you," says Aelita, amazed.

"We are very happy to help," says the Queen, and Ulrich scoffs. Yumi gives him a dirty look. "Now that you are here, and have no home, we ask that you stay here."

"Thank you," says Aelita happily. "I will be honored."

"Only on one condition." The Queen rises up a finger. She continues, "You will stay here, provided with shelter and food, but you must repay the ransom. Aelita dear, you will have to train with the rest, and I must forewarn you, you shall _not_ be given special treatment."

"You must be _jesting_ with me."

"Oh, I am sorry dear, but I am not. Everyone else has been given the privilege to stay here and train, so you will also."

"May I ask you what we will be training for, your Majesty?"

"Oh yes, of course," says the Queen, smacking her forehead with the palm of her hand. "You are standing in the headquarters of Eurasia's Army, unknown organization opposing King Dominik. Here, everyone trains until I know that we are ready to finally take him down. I despise him, and I'm guessing you share mutual feelings..?"

Aelita ponders on this for a second. This _will_ be a great way to get vengeance from the deaths of her parents. But won't this cost her life? She knows very well that if King Dominik finds out about this secret organization, he will find them and put all to death immediately. After all, her parents did die to protect her life, to buy time before Dominik sets out to find her. But if she turns down the Queen's offer, she will die from starvation and malnutrition. Either way, the outcomes are the same. But now, there is only one question: will she rather die knowing that she fought for the sake of Eurasia, or die knowing she ran away in fear?

"Alright," answers Aelita. "I'll do it."

* * *

**Author's Note: So how was that? Aelita's a fighter now! Sorry about the short chapter, I'm trying my best, LOL. Reviews are highly appreciated! :) PEACE!**


	8. Training

**Hey guys! Thanks so so much for the great reviews! Here's Chapter 7. Sit back, relax, and enjoy! This is mostly about Aelita's first day.**

* * *

Chapter 7: Training

"Aelita, first things first, you need a new uniform. You can't be running around in a skimpy dress like that," says Yumi.

Aelita looks down on herself. "Skimpy? Excuse me, but I happen to have a very modest wardrobe, selected by my very own stylist."

"You might want to check yourself again." Yumi examines her from head to toe, not pleased at all. "The neckline is too low, showing too much cleavage. Bending down, you can even make Ulrich drool."

"I bid you to move on to another subject, perchance?"

Yumi remains unmoved. She walks Aelita into another room. It is lined with metallic bars on all four walls, each of them occupied with dangling hangers. Most of the hangers are filled.

"Whose closet is this?" asks Aelita, examining the clothes with disdain.

"Mine," replies Yumi. "I doubt that this is your taste, but it'll have to do. I'm sorry, but we don't fight in ball gowns and veils."

Aelita straightens herself up, inhaling sharply. "It's fine. I'll manage."

"Good." Yumi smiles. She then walks for the door, and opens it. She exits through it, but turns back, opening the door just a crack. "Oh, and when you're done, go to that battlefield you saw a while ago when we brought you to the Queen's throne. You will meet Ulrich there, and you will be discussing which weapon you will have." her eye twitches thinking about Aelita spending exclusive time with Ulrich. "Good luck."

"Thank you," Aelita happily accepts the encouragement. Then, she pauses. "Yumi, how did this all start? Like this whole army and all. And may I ask how _you_ got involved?"

Yumi pauses, and turns towards Aelita, her shoulders hunched. "I don't know why I'm telling you this, but I think it's because you're the first girl I've ever talked to for a while-"

"If it's uncomfortable, thou don't have to tell me."

"No, it's fine, I'll tell you," answers Yumi, shrugging off Aelita's offer. She takes a deep breath, and continues, "My parents were brave people."

-Flashback-

_It's April 13th of year 2295 in Kyoto, Japan. The pink cherry blossoms just started to bloom on the tree just outside of the Ishiyamas' decent sized two-story home. It casts a wide variety of pink hues across the ground of their backyard, having just started to fall and twirl from their branches. Even though Yumi was accustomed to the full bloom that occurs almost every year, she still marveled at the falling coral petals, watching in wonder as they flew with grace towards the ground. She and her little brother, Hiroki, giggled with laughter as they raced to catch as many of the falling blooms as they could, and playfully threw them at each other when a handful of them were in their possession._

"But me and Hiroki didn't notice the trouble occurring from the front of the house."

_Meanwhile, their parents were enjoying their weekend off in the living room, attending their usual recreational duties. Her father read the newspaper, while her mother clicked keys on her laptop, writing her first Japanese-English dictionary. Many little bonsais decorated every corner of the room, giving off a hint of a Japanese vibe. The modern screen doors gave way to the blazing sunlight emitting from outside._

_Takeo Ishiyama, the father, clicked his tongue to the roof of his mouth three times. He shook his head vigorously._

_"What is it, dear?" his wife asked, noticing his sudden change in mood._

_Takeo said, his expression somber, "Vietnam just got raided by Dominik's army... Just think, this could be World War IV we're talking about! World War III started for no good reason, just a small disagreement between countries of which government was the most effective, and now, we have a reason! What if he targets Kyoto next?"_

_His wife looked up from the bright laptop screen. "I wouldn't worry, Takeo. We'll get this all sorted out..."_

_"You've been saying that for the past five years... Shouldn't we at least be a bit cau-"_

_Takeo was cut off by the sudden rappings on their door. They both turned towards it._

_"Will you go get it, dear?"_

_Takeo nods solemnly. Grunting as he got up, the newspaper crinkled as he hastily folds it up. He places it gently on the table, and starts his walk towards the front door._

_The rappings continued, showing that the people behind the door were getting impatient. But finally, after a few minutes, the door opened to reveal three men dressed in tailored black suits, their eyes concealed behind pairs of dark shades._

_"Good afternoon. How can I help you?" asks Takeo._

_"We are bodyguards of King Dominik," says one of the men, noticing the sudden change in Takeo's expression. "But no need to be afraid. We just need you to sign this-" he points to a blank on a piece of paper he took out, "- showing that you swear loyalty to our King."_

_Takeo's face evaporated into anger. "Who the fuck do you think you are? I'm not swearing loyalty to that bastard!"_

_Just then, a loud gunshot pierced through the air, causing Yumi's mother to jump out of her seat. It sent Takeo backwards, through the hall and into the staircase, emitting a loud thud. Blood seeped through a large hole in his head. She screams at the hemorrhaging body before her._

_Yumi heard the gunshot too. She raced towards the door, as Hiroki asks in sudden alarm, "What's going on, sis?"_

_The girl peered through the window, and what she saw formed tears in her eyes, and broke her heart. Yumi forced them back, as she stared quietly with her hands pressed firmly on the window at the dying body of her father. Her mother was cornered._

"I saw my father dying, and-"

_Before Yumi could burst through the doors, she saw her mother get shot too, the bullet piercing her chest, and through her heart._

"-before I could do anything, they killed my mother too."

Y_umi turns around, and finds Hiroki looking at her with piercing eyes. "Let's go, Hiroki. We're in danger. Hold my hand, and follow me. We have to get as far away from here as we can. Before the war starts."_

_"What's happening?" asks Hiroki with moist eyes. "Are mom and dad okay?"_

_Yumi bends down, and her face met with Hiroki's. "I'll explain later. Everything is going to be okay. Just listen to me, and don't look through the windows." She hugs him._

"I watched my little brother slowly die as well as myself from hunger day by day after running away. A few days after Hiroki died, Ulrich found me, after hearing about my bravery and courage. He took me here. I've been training here for about four months."

"I'm sorry to hear that," says Aelita, tears forming in her eyes.

A small grin forms on Yumi's face. "Thanks. I don't know how this army got started, though.. try asking Jeremie."

And she leaves the closet without another word.

About fifteen minutes later, Aelita exits Yumi's closet, in a burgundy linen shirt tucked into a pair of dark denim capris and white sneakers. It took her a while to find the shirt; Yumi's closet consisted strictly of black, gray, and the occasional red. She finely brushed her hair, and as she enters into the arena, everyone points their gaze at her. No one could deny it; Aelita looks gorgeous, even in an outfit as plain as this. Aelita straightens up, and marches with a huff towards the door at the south end of the arena. As she did so, she could notice faint whispers around her, but she swallows her pride, and acts as if she couldn't hear a thing.

"Who does she think she is, strutting around in Yumi's clothes?"

"Acting as if she's all that."

"Little miss princess thinks she's so special, getting special treatment from the four best."

Aelita starts fuming with anger. When she reaches the automatic sliding door, she whips around and opens her mouth to say something, but thinks better of it, and clamps her mouth. She turns back around to face the door, and places her hand on the interface, copying Jeremie's gesture. Not much to Aelita's surprise, the door swiftly slides open for her, and gasps erupt from the fighters-in-training.

"What the _hell_?"

"Why does she get in? _I_ should get in."

Aelita ignores the snide comments, and proceeds into the scorching battlefield. Once in, she sees Ulrich right in the center, his eyes shut, and sitting in the lotus position. His shaggy brunette hair shone in the sunlight, casting sharp shadows upon his pointed face. "_Meditating_," Aelita thinks to herself.

Hearing the crunch of gravel beneath her feet, Ulrich prys open his left eye, revealing a pale blue. Seeing that it is Aelita, he sighs, and gets up slowly.

As the wind blew, it tousles Ulrich's hair, leaving it to look barely presentable, but good nevertheless. Aelita looks at him with slight desire, and shakes her head. She pinches her arm behind her back.

Ulrich bends down, and examines her face, his brow furrowed.

"Something wrong?" he asks Aelita.

"No, no problem," she says, her pitch a bit off.

"Good, because I am _not_ going to be forced to train someone that can't even focus when no assignments have been given to her yet."

"You-you're training me?"

"The Queen gave me the orders.." says Ulrich, raising an eyebrow. "Now, forget about that. Right now you are at stage three: Weapon."

"Stage three?" asks Aelita. "What's stage one?"

"Entrance Into Organization."

"Stage two?"

"Uniform." Ulrich puts his arms behind his back, and says, "Any more questions?"

Aelita looks up into the open sky, and rubs her chin. "No."

"Good. Let's leave for the shed."

Ulrich and Aelita walk back to where they came from, back into the arena. All the trainers look in their direction, and make an aisle for Ulrich and Aelita to pass through. A lot of the girls-in-training giggle, resting their eyes on Ulrich in lust.

Aelita's face contorts with disgust, and Ulrich whispers, with a face barely concealing laughter, "Just ignore them."

Aelita nods slowly, and follows Ulrich in silence. Reaching the western end of the arena, there stands another door with another interface, and Aelita assumes that it's the weapon shed. Ulrich places his hand on the interface.

A woman's voice with a monotonous tone emits from the side speakers of the panel. "Ulrich Stern," she says, "State association and administrator."

Ulrich clears his throat, and says, "Main, Jeremie Belpois."

"Access approved."

At this command, the door slides open, and Ulrich gestures for Aelita to come inside. Aelita nods her thanks, and enters, Ulrich close behind her. As the pair goes inside, the lights slowly fade on, and Aelita backs in horror. Surrounding her is a vast variety of fighting tools: a large assortment of swords, including the Katana and Zweihander; Japanese War fans; bows and silver arrows of various shapes and sizes; the largest assortment of small knives and daggers; clubs; axes; and hand and fist weapons, such as spiked gauntlets. Along with all that, there is an abundant amount of armor and shields. With this large of a variety, everyone would have no trouble finding their most suitable weapon, even based upon their culture and religion.

Ulrich seeks Aelita with her panicked face, and frowns. "Don't show any fear or weakness at the slightest sight of weapons, especially when not even being handled by a man. That's lesson one."

Aelita swallows and nods slowly, completely taken aback by his sudden harshness. She then chokes out, "How in the world am I going to pick one?"

"What are you interested in?" asks Ulrich, gesturing at the wide arrange of weapons. "For beginners, I suggest starting with the more… minute weapons. The tessen fans, purple metallic bow, and those twin sabers over there are off limits."

Aelita frowns. "Might I ask why?"

"Yumi, Odd, and I have those reserved."

She opens her mouth in a wide 'o.' "Do give me two of those somber dark daggers." She points at the small pair of daggers with black blades and a dark brown handle. Considering her parents just died and her country is now in the hands of an evil king, the blades couldn't fit into her mood even more.

Ulrich shrugs and says, "My pleasure.."

He takes his time strolling to the left wall adorned with multiple knives and daggers. He retrieves them, and walks back towards Aelita, his black dress shoes banging against the hard marble floor in crisp silence. She takes them from his glove adorned hands, and nods in thanks.

"Just so you know, those daggers you eyed so intently are meant for distant fighting, meaning you have to-"

"I have to throw them."

Ulrich frowns. "Right. Very fit for stealth."

"Might I ask for some helpful tips on how to use them?"

Ulrich rubs his chin. "No. Except probably aim accurately?"

"That's not very helpful."

Ulrich raises both hands up in a gesture of defense. "I said no."

Aelita frowns, and says, "Is this the area we shall be training in?"

"Does this place look like its fit for the throwing of knives and daggers?" He gestures at the small surface area around him. Aelita stays silent. "No, I don't think so. We're training in the barren wasteland the Queen calls a 'battlefield,' where Yumi, Jeremie, and Odd are waiting patiently for us."

Aelita crosses her arms in annoyance. "It seems like thou hast grown a disliking towards me."

Ulrich glides dangerously close to Aelita, and she inches back. He says, "I guess that feeling is mutual." He sharply turns around and walks out the door, not bothering to wait for Aelita.

* * *

"I bid you three to wait patiently for the pair to come."

Jeremie, Yumi, and Odd stand in a straight line before the Queen. They nod in response.

"Just stand before the battlefield's shields, and Jeremie, I bid you to get the controls warmed up."

"Of course, your Majesty."

Odd, Jeremie, and Yumi stroll to the battlefield's shields, and a whole control panel rises up before them. With blinking lights covering almost all of the panel, it takes on a very colorful and bright nature, and Jeremie starts the long, painstaking process of setting up the obstacles, a faint _beep_ emitting from every press of a button.

Just then, the doors slide open, and Ulrich and Aelita emerge. All heads turn towards them, and Ulrich bows to the Queen. Aelita just stands speechless, a bead of sweat sliding down the side of her face from the stares of four highly trained fighters, who came here to watch her.

"Welcome, Aelita," greets the Queen. Aelita stiffly bows and the Queen nods in response. "First, we will watch what you are capable of doing. Then we will work from there."

Aelita widens her eyes in horror. She thinks up the fact that the possibility of her embarrassing herself is very high, causing her to become even more anxious to get this done with. After a few moments, she finally croaks out, "O-kay."

The Queen of Spain nods towards Jeremie, and he presses a button, emitting a faint _beep_. Three wooden puppets emerge from the ground with a shake, and they stare at Aelita with expressionless eyes. Dust from the gravel billows around them, making them look almost blurry. "You may proceed," says the Queen.

Aelita stares at the puppets in intense silence, and another bead of sweat slides down her forehead, getting caught in her eyebrow. A few minutes pass, and Jeremie gazes at her in growing concern. Yumi and Odd look at her in frightening silence. They turn to each other with concerned faces. Ulrich just looks at her, a grin spreading across his face. Yumi slaps him, and Ulrich rubs his cheek, glaring malevolently at her. The sound of the slap momentarily grasps Aelita's attention, causing her to turn towards the source. Seeing that it was nothing, she turns back towards the dummies and gulps. She closes her eyes, and slowly inhales. Exhale. _"Just replace those dummies with King Dominik's face, and throw those knives at them with raging vengeance,"_ she thinks to herself. _"Just do it."_

Aelita tightens her fists around the dark daggers, and abruptly opens her eyes. She brings her left arm back, ready to launch. As she was about to do the simple action of throwing, a feeling overwhelms her, and she slowly brings her arm back down. This is wrong. Just wrong.

"A problem?" asks the Queen.

"This just seems a little bit grotesque for my taste," replies Aelita. "I apologize, but I can't train to _kill_."

Jeremie frowns, and says, "You can do it Aelita. Besides, those things that we fought to rescue you, they were not _human_."

"Or," says the Queen, raising up her index finger, "thou can just refuse to fight, and I'll send you back out into the open."

Aelita glares at the Queen, and turns back towards the wooden puppets. She inhales again, and she chants in her mind, _"It's just wood. Just wood. Just wood just wood just wood just wood!"_

In one fluid, quick motion Aelita brings back her left hand dagger, and launches it at the wooden puppet in the center with a flick of the wrist, an 'euh' sound escaping from her mouth. It grazes the left side of its head the slightest bit, only succeeding in slicing the air.

"Okay," says the Queen, unimpressed. "Let's try again this time, and I strictly bid you to aim before launching. It shall help a lot with connecting the blade with its head."

Aelita sighs, nods at the Queen, and tries again, this time with her right hand. It was completely off aim, completely going to miss the dummy until:  
_Whoosh_

A heavy gale tumbles across the field, and it guides the dagger closer towards the puppet. It connects with the puppet's head, and everyone braces for the result. It slices nearly all the way through its neck, and the dagger falls to the ground, leaving the head to hang onto its neck. Aelita shuts her eyes, and then, silence.

A thump breaks the utter quiet.

Aelita opens her eyes again, and notices that the dummy's head is now laying on the floor, leaving shocked faces on Yumi and Odd, both of their mouths agape. Jeremie smiles with his arms crossed, and leans relieved on the transparent glass wall that separates the control panel from the rest of the battlefield, also known as the battlefield's shields. Ulrich's face still remains expressionless, and suddenly he gives her a hesitant thumbs-up with one hand, and Aelita nods in thanks.

"Not….bad," says the Queen.

"Nice, Aelita," says Odd, impressed.

The Queen then says, "Okay, now for the rest of the obstacles."

"R-rest?" asks Aelita, her eyes widening and her mouth agape.

"Aye," says the Queen. "You know, laser generators, rock walls.."

Aelita widens her eyes even more.

"Enough," says Jeremie, clearly agitated by the Queen. "Can't you see how frightened she is? I refuse to bring up these obstacles that can kill her. You already have seen what she can do, so just let her train normally like all the others. Why do you choose to even be so harsh to her, but not to the others that have arrived here ever since the establishment of this organization? At least she isn't a brat like them, all arrogant and such."

"You dare say that to me, Jeremie?" says the Queen overdramatically; widening her eyes innocently and placing her right hand on her chest. "I can assure you, I am treating her equally like everyone else." She leans in to face Odd, her heavy dress rustling, "Isn't that right, Odd?"

Odd stays motionless and speechless, refusing to speak, and then just gives her a glare. Just when he was about to say something, Aelita cuts him off and says, "Why have you been treating me like this?"

"Let's just say...me and Francis were close friends... but got in a fight recently," says the Queen, trailing off. "But I still gave you a home, and look, thou have been given the chance to train with the best fighters I have."

"But only because Dominik now has my castle, and I have had no previous fighting experience unlike the others whom have arrived here." Aelita points out with calmness.

The Queen's face flicks with anger for a second, but it disappears as quickly as it had appeared, angered by the unexpected rebuttal.

Seeing that she has nothing else to come back with, she flicks her wrist, and says, "Well then, off to lunch you go. Training will resume after the meal."

Grumbles erupt from the whole group, and they swiftly turn around to start their walk to the mess hall, Aelita trailing behind them. They take the door back into the arena, and relieving Aelita, it's empty. Walking to the cafeteria, they take the door at the eastern end of the arena, where the door slides open on its own. All heads turn towards the group, and a lot of them give glares at Aelita. She glares back.

"Why do they dislike me?" Aelita asks Yumi, Jeremie, Odd, and Ulrich.

"Probably because you're hanging out with us," says Odd.

"So let them be it," says Yumi, annoyed. "I don't get what's to get worked up about." She takes a tray from the stack from the beginning of the counter, and gives it to Odd, who gives it to Ulrich, who gives it to Jeremie, who gives it to Aelita.

"Thank you," says Aelita, smiling at Jeremie.

Jeremie shrugs and says, "No problem."

After they filled their trays with their desired foods, Odd, Jeremie, Yumi, and Ulrich sit down on their table, which has a silver metallic color to it and is at the far left end of the room. Aelita looks at them with a hesitant look and says, "I shall see ye all anon. Grammercy for defending me before." She forces out a smile.

When she starts her reluctant turn around, Yumi, Odd, and Jeremie look at one another, with sympathetic looks on their faces. Ulrich couldn't care less, and just stares far out into the distance, eating his food.

"Are we seriously just gonna eat here, and leave her to deal with all of the other fighters here, that don't even have the slightest bit of liking towards her?" asks Odd, staring at his food guiltily.

"Odd's right, she's nice at least, and modest" says Yumi, taking a small bite out of her mashed potatoes.

"Wait, wait, wait," says Ulrich, waving his palm out into his teammate's faces. "The only reason why she's modest is that she doesn't have any fighting skills or any defense abilities whatsoever. She doesn't have anything to be arrogant about to begin with."

"Ulrich, stop being so childish," says Jeremie, placing his hand onto Ulrich's shoulder in a friendly gesture. "She's...different. Different from all the others that makes her more pleasant."

Ulrich slouches in a huff, and crosses his arms.

"I'll take that as an okay," says Odd with a mouth full of food and pointing his fork at Ulrich. Odd smiles, and when Ulrich gives him the death glare, he only chuckles.

"It's too late anyway," says Ulrich, pointing to Aelita. She sits at the opposite end of the room away from them, alone. She pokes around her food with a fork, her left hand cupped around her left cheek in loneliness.

"Then we'll just hang out with her next weekend. It _is_ a free day next Sunday," Odd points out.

"But we have to be extra careful, Dominik's men could be looking for her at this very moment," says Jeremie.

"Okay, so any suggestions?" asks Yumi, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, Sunday, if we are going to do recreational stuff, we have to bring our weapons with us, and keep on the lookout for any of Dominik's henchmen."

"Isn't that a little bit like crossing the line? It's not worth it, Jeremie," says Ulrich, clearly disliking the idea of risking their lives just to have some fun.

"C'mon Ulrich, it'll be exciting!" says Odd.

"Now that I think about it, it will be good to gather information on those henchmen Dominik sent us. So it'll be helping our mission too," points out Jeremie.

"Fine, I guess so. But if we end up getting killed, I'll blame it on you guys in heaven."

"And meanwhile, what do we do?" asks Yumi.

"We'll talk to her, and try to get to know her better," answers Jeremie with a smile.

* * *

After lunch, Ulrich, Jeremie, Yumi, and Odd gather with Aelita and the Queen, to train and demonstrate to Aelita what a real battle looks like.

The sun is right above them now, and the battlefield radiates with unbearable heat, although all of them remain in their usual attire. Beads of sweat pour down on each of their faces as all of them curse at the Queen under their breaths for requiring them to wear their uniforms. All the while, the Queen remains indoors inside her air-conditioned headquarters, all snug on her comfortable throne. She watches the activities in the private battlefield through the transparent glass doors.

"Yumi, Ulrich," says the Queen, pointing her fingers at both of them, "You pair will be the first to spar, to demonstrate to Aelita how to put up a decent fight."

Yumi and Ulrich nod and take battle stances, Yumi opening up her dual tessen fans and Ulrich unsheathing his twin blades. "Whenever you're ready," says Ulrich.

The Queen turns towards Aelita, and says, "Just so you know, these two have been training with each other for quite a long time, so they understand each other's fighting styles; Yumi, graceful, acrobatic, and strategic, Ulrich, repulsive, quick."

Aelita nods in response, clearly intrigued, excited.

"Go," waves the Queen.

Ulrich charges at Yumi, and she stays her ground. Just as he was about to slice her, Yumi does a cartwheel to the right, and waits for his next strike in a half-crouch position. Ulrich turns and smiles, turning a full three hundred and sixty degrees, pointing his blades outwards. Yumi jumps up, dodging the blow. She then sees her chance, as Ulrich was recovering from the dizzying side effect, and tries to slice at his torso. But Ulrich was too quick. He simply steps back, crouches down, and does a roundhouse kick, tripping over Yumi's legs. As Yumi was on the ground, Ulrich quickly approaches, and points one of his blades at her throat, daring her to move any further. Yumi smiles.

"Alright, you got me."

"Again." He smirks, and retreats the blade.

"Shut up." Ulrich laughs, and helps Yumi up.

"Ulrich is a very formidable opponent," the Queen points out to Aelita.

"I can see.." Aelita trails off.

"Jeremie will be helping you with your training," says the Queen, pointing her gaze at Jeremie. He nods obediently, and smiles at Aelita. She smiles back. "Since you two have fairly similar weapons, I say that Jeremie will be the most qualified subject to help you."

From the battlefield's shields, Jeremie walks over to Aelita and says, "Okay, this is how you should handle the weapon….."

* * *

"Are you still mad, Yumi?" asks Ulrich, pounding his fist on her door. He summed up the courage to ask after their training, when Yumi lightened up her mood a little.

Ulrich waited as he heard the sound of footsteps coming closer towards him. He watches as the door to Yumi's bedroom slides open. The door revealed Yumi, wearing a black sweater paired with black skinny jeans, her combat boots set outside. She lets out a long sigh. "No," she says. "I'm sorry_,_ Ulrich."

Ulrich nods, and slowly hugs her, rubbing her back soothingly. After a few minutes, he murmurs into her hair, "You know when you called me attractive...?"

Yumi abruptly pulls away, her porcelain face quickly taking a rosy color. "Do _not _remind me of that," she says, quickly giving way into embarrassment. "Forget that I said it. I was _not_ myself."

"Sure, no problem," says Ulrich, shrugging, trying to hide a smile.

A grin slowly grows on Yumi's face. She _loves_ his easygoing attitude.

* * *

**Author's Note: If you don't get why Ulrich's being cold and formal towards Aelita, it's because he's putting all his anger out on her from his argument with Yumi (since it was partly Aelita's fault). So...yeah...** **Did you like this chapter? Let me know! Advice on how to improve is highly appreciated! :)**


	9. Jeremie's Story

**Hey guys! This chapter is kinda like filler, just showing the growing relationship between Jeremie and Aelita. Thanks again (for the billionth time, LOL) for the reviews! :)**

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Chapter 8: Jeremie's Story

A few hours of free time is like a desert being drowned in rain for Eurasia's Army. The Queen seldom gives her trainers any time to have fun for themselves and be real teenagers who live their lives.

But today, after Aelita's short training session with Jeremie, the Queen seemed to have a change in heart. She decided to give everyone a few hours of break.

The whole army rejoices, and all scatter off to attend their recreational activities.

Aelita opens the door to a large library in the headquarters, cringing as the door hinges give off a deafening, ear-splitting shriek. Dust billows around her, and she coughs, waving it all off violently with the hand that isn't on the door handle.

The princess withdraws her hand from the door knob, walking into the empty and vast room of books. Every one of her footsteps echo across the library, ricocheting off the walls. A ticklish sensation overcomes her right hand, the hand that held the door's handle, and Aelita rubs her index finger and thumb together. She feels a sudden roughness. _Dust._

The walls and floor are paneled with dark wood, and bookshelves line every wall, concealing them completely. Aelita slowly walks along the lines of shelves, running her fingers along each book spine. She reads each and every one of the dusty titles as she skims her eyes along them, marveling at them in wonder. At random intervals, she withdraws her hand from the books, and rubs the dust off on her white linen shirt.

Aelita notices that most of these books are mapping books, and when she took one out to skim through its material, she finds Jeremie through the slot that remained. She watches for a few seconds as he mutters to himself, flipping through the pages in disappointment. She admires his bright, blonde hair and almost laughs as she watches his bifocals slide down his dramatically curved nose bridge. Aelita assumes that he must've not heard her come in, too immersed into the book. She clutches her book to her chest, and turns around, her back towards the bookshelf.

Aelita isn't nervous about him being around her, she is just thrown off a bit that she isn't the only being in the library. She turns back around and slides the book back into its respective place.

"Aelita?"

The princess whips her head towards the direction Jeremie's voice came from, and sees him peeking around the edge of the bookshelf. "What are thou doing here?!" she yells in a hushed tone as Jeremie strolls towards her.

"I can ask you the same," he replies, crossing his arms. He then smiles, relaxing his serious face, and says, "The library is open to everyone, you know."

Aelita could sense suspicion a mile away. She crosses her arms also, and wrinkles her nose. "Are you hiding something, perhaps?"

Jeremie sighs, and rubs his temples, clearly stressed out. Aelita frowns in concern, and says, "Tell me what's wrong, Jeremie."

"Dominik has just taken off to take over China," Jeremie blurts out, his face clearly displaying despair. "The problem is, there is no way he will lose. Somehow, his army is getting bigger, and I want him deteriorating. I'm planning on our next move. Probably we're going to spy on his army, try figure out his tactic." He sighs again and takes off his glasses, revealing his deep blue eyes. He rubs them clean with the hem of his shirt, and places them back on. Jeremie then closes his eyes, and says, "I don't think I can do this anymore. This is too stressful. Sometimes I feel that the whole continent is depending on me to turn things around. I'm only seventeen. You have no idea how fast all this stress made me mature." He immediately perks up, and continues, "So, you need any help? What kind of book are you looking for? We have geography, historical fic-"

"Jeremie," Aelita says, cutting him off. She takes a deep breath, and places her hands on his shoulders in a comforting gesture. "You're not in this alone. You've got everyone here in this army to help you."

He shakes his head, and says, "You don't get it. You have no idea how it feels to have lost everything, and-"

"You-you," Aelita sighs, and breathes shallowly, almost as if she is laughing. She smiles, and looks up into the ceiling. She then shakes her head, sweeps her hair off her face, and snaps, "You think I haven't experienced losing everything? I know exactly how it feels." She clenches her hands into fists, and continues, "I've lost everything! My parents, my castle, my belongings, my honor, and my_ country_!" She counts them off with her fingers, tears starting to stream down her face. "Look at me, I'm no rich princess anymore! I have to fight for what I want, probably risking my own life to it! How _dare_ you think that."

Jeremie looks down at his interlaced fingers in shame, and says, "I'm sorry, Aelita. I forgot."

A pang of realization hits Aelita, putting her into a state of shock. She can't believe her sudden outburst. She sighs, swallows, and says, "N-no, I'm sorry. Forgive me, Jeremie. I shouldn't have been so immature."

"Hey," Jeremie says in a comforting tone, "you're crying." He walks closer to Aelita, and rubs his thumbs across her cheeks, instantly drying her tears. Aelita sniffs, and she literally collapses into Jeremie, breaking into another sob. He folds his arms around Aelita's torso, and rests his chin on the top of her head, trying to calm her down. "I can't stand to see a girl cry."

Aelita is the first to pull away. Looking at Jeremie, she wipes away the tear that just started to stream down. "Thank you," she says in a faint whisper, "for everything."

"Aelita," Jeremie says, pulling out a chair out from under the wooden desk, the screeches sending chills down both of their spines. "Since we seem to have experienced similar events, I want to tell you something. I want to tell you about me. And at the end, if you have anymore questions, I'll fill you in. You deserve to know."

Aelita smiles. "I'd love to."

* * *

**So how was that? Like it? Hate it? Let me know! :)**


	10. Some Time Ago

**Hey guys! I'm getting so many great reviews! Thank you so much! I'm trying very hard to make this story sound as good as possible, and you guys pay it off...so thank you. Here's Chapter 9. So sit back, relax, and enjoy! :)**

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Chapter 9: Some Time Ago

_Running._

_That was all he could do._

_It was kind've impossible to think that the day started out like any other day, and twisted into a dark, life-threatening horror like this:_

_It is June 3rd, 2294 in Bordeaux, France, the greatest day of all days, the most important of them all._

_Today, Jeremie is graduating from high school._

_He never had many friends; people found him a bit standoffish, too immersed into his studies. But he still received much praise from his teachers, and that's what kept him afloat; he couldn't be any happier._

_So the graduation went like any other graduation: everyone got all their diplomas, said their speeches, and concluded with being showered with many gifts and hugs._

"It was a really important day for me."

_But that wasn't what fueled the young einstein with excitement. His mother and father have been planning a trip for months, as a celebration for Jeremie's achievement, and of course, his spectacular grades._

_They surprised him with it the morning before his graduation. He remembered hugging his mother's petite figure, her long blonde hair spilling around his arms. He also remembered giving a bunch of high fives to his dad, and his attempt to stop at smiling too much._

_Jeremie had until September to spend time with his family, before he left for college. So, he accepted the trip with happiness, and no hesitation. The genius immediately packed his bags before driving off to school for the graduation. The trip is tonight, meaning he had to skip the party that is being thrown by his classmates._

_But he didn't mind; he wasn't very social anyway._

_An hour after lift off, an explosion is heard from the rear of the plane._

"I didn't know what it was, but after listening to the hushed tones of the flight attendants and pilot, I easily put together that someone was trying to shoot us out of the sky."

_Jeremie panickedly looks out his window, and sees smoke start to obscure the sky, coming from behind him._

_And that's when the plane starts to plummet hundreds of miles an hour towards the ground. Some passengers start to scream, but Jeremie stays calm, knowing full well that most people die in a plane crash because of their useless panicking._

_And everyone does the usual safety procedures. Jeremie watches as the unattended beverage cart flies down the aisle, it's cans, bottles, and glasses clinking haphazardly into each other, and crashes into the front of the cabin._

_Jeremie and his family link hands, and say their prayers, as the pilot tries his best to keep everything under control._

_The next several minutes were the longest minutes of Jeremie's life, as he waits for the outcome, knowing he can't do anything to change its course._

_The plane reaches the Earth's surface, fully intact, and skids across the dirt, metallic sparks occurring all around them. Screeches made their way into Jeremie's ears, causing them to ring loudly._

_Everyone tumbles around, as a great force tries to buck everyone out of their seats. But their seat belts, of course, keep them from doing so. Jeremie could remember hearing his father yelp in pain as he got whiplash from a sudden jerk backwards, breaking his neck, and paralyzing him completely. He could remember the pilot screaming curses as he found out that the plane is going to explode any second from the highly volatile fuel. He could also remember his mother begging Jeremie to leave them, as she stays to die with his father._

"I could remember her exact words. She told me that she loved me, and that I am old and mature enough to take care of myself. She told me that she would never live with herself if she left her my father to die... _I_ can't live with myself, after leaving them like that." Jeremie could feel the rims of his eyes beginning to swell, and Aelita looks back at him with a look of concern, all the while listening intently, giving the occasional nods to show that she is still paying attention.

_Jeremie runs out of the cabin, and keeps on running, as far away as he could from the crash, minutes slipping from him. A couple of minutes later, the plane explodes, and Jeremie could feel the sudden heat licking the back of his body._

_Knowing that his father and mother are the only ones in there, Jeremie falls onto his knees, and cries for hours. He slams his fists repeatedly onto the ground, all the while cursing into the sky, into the ground, towards God._

"For the next few days, I was lost."

_Jeremie walked around the streets for days, starving to the point his ribs started to show. He still kept up with the news, taking free newspapers that seem to fly off into the roads, out of people's hands._

"I later found out that it was Dominik that shot us out of the sky." Jeremie slams his fist on the table so hard that it made the table shake. He continues, "He doesn't want anyone to leave Europe, and _Asia_ even. I mean, who wouldn't want to leave _knowing_ that your country might be next on his hit list? He's shooting down all planes, even ones that are scheduled to land within the continent. Dominik wants all the people he can get to rule over, so that means, no one is allowed to flee. Apparently, ours was the first to get shot out of the sky."

Aelita then realizes something. "I thought all explosives were canceled out after World War III."

Jeremie nods solemnly. "That's right. But Dominik brought the practice back. It took him and his staff _years_ to figure it out. That's why he didn't start launching at planes earlier."

Aelita's eyes widen. "Oh my _God_." She then swallows, and says, "That man is crazy!"

"I thought the same thing," says Jeremie. "So all of us are stuck here. Of course, there's the Dragon's Barrette we can use for teleportation, but that's it."

"So how did you get here?" asks Aelita, still confused.

"Don't laugh, but I became a beggar," answers Jeremie. "I was a teenager, out on the streets, sitting down with a box in front of him that says 'Euros Please.' But of course, not many people contributed, mostly because they probably thought that I was someone that was dumb enough to drop out of school, and who'd believe my story anyway?"

"I believe you," says Aelita, smiling.

Jeremie smiles back, and says, "Thanks. So one day, after eating my tiny breakfast, someone dropped an envelope into my money box.. I could tell it wasn't a joke, since my full name was engraved in gold in the front, and the paper was thick and expensive. It led me here-" Jeremie gestures around the room, "-and I met the Queen of Spain. I was the first recruit _ever._ I don't know how the heck she found out about so many of us anyway, something about connections? It sounded like pedophile to me." Aelita and Jeremie laugh together.

"So how this all started...it's still a mystery?" asks Aelita.

"For now, yup."

"Wait, so one more question." Aelita asks, "The Items of Schaeffer, how do you use them, and why are they named after my family?"

"I was thinking you'd ask that," says Jeremie, walking over to one of the bookshelves. He skims around for a few minutes, and finds a thick, dusty book, binded together inside a leathery cover. He wipes off the dust, coughing, and Aelita peeks behind his shoulder. There was no title. Jeremie turns around to face Aelita, and mutters to himself as he flips through the yellow and worn pages. He seems to stop on one page, and holds it out to the Princess. It says:

**Items of Schaeffer:**

1) Cloak of Visibility and Sound

How to Use:** Put the person you want to use it on in your vision, and recite its name to activate it; if you want to just use it on yourself, just wrap it over yourself; you don't have to keep it wrapped around you, it will keep on working, will wear off in fifteen minutes; if you want unlimited time, keep it wrapped around yourself until you want it to stop**

Uses:** to make the user invisible, along with his/ her clothes and objects on them; also blocks out sounds made by them**

2)The Guardian's Ring

How to Use:** Put the person you want to use it on in your vision, and recite its name to activate it, will wear off in half an hour (and an hour has to pass before reactivating) or if you want to use it on yourself, just put it on and recite its name to activate it, take it off when you want it to stop; the forcefield created by this Item of Schaeffer will only be broken by the energy wave emitted from the Sword of Schaeffer**

Uses:** self explanatory; will create an unbreakable forcefield around the user/ victim/ where the user wants it to be**

3) The Death's Skull

How to Use: **Put the person/gravestone you want to use it on in your vision, and recite its name to activate it; will only work on dead people**

Uses:** Will put life into the dead corpse and it will be loyal to the user, doing anything the user commands it to do. When corpse is destroyed, it will disintegrate into microscopic gray dust composed of dead matter**

4) Sword of Schaeffer

How to Use:** Hold onto sword, recite it's name to activate it, wait for it to charge up, aim at target, and wave the sword outwards to release the wave of iridescent white energy**

Uses:**Wave of energy released by the sword will slice through anything, and it is deadly; energy will gradually weaken until the state of disintegration the farther away it gets from the sword**

5) Slaughtering Hand of Schaeffer

How to Use:** Put on glove, put the person you want to use it on in your vision, recite its name to activate it, and wave it in midair**

Uses: **to cause wounds and scratches in various degrees and places on the victim, most of which are fatal**

6) Healing Hand of Schaeffer

How to Use: **Put on glove, put the person you want to use it on in your vision, recite its name to activate it**

Uses: **To heal any injury/wound, but not to the extent of amputated limbs or bringing someone back to life**

7) Dragon's Barrette

How to Use: **Toss the barrette up into the air, and say, "Dragon Teleportation," to activate it. Walk into the void created by it while thinking about where you want to go**

Uses: **Brings you to the destination of your choice; but not into buildings with locked doors (will only bring you outside the entrance)**

8) Elemental Bender

How to Use: **Put on the amulet. Recite the name of the element you want to manipulate (water, fire, wind, or earth) or subelement (ice, lava, etc.) Imagine what you want to do with it, and imagine the outcome**

Uses: **Manipulate any natural element, such as closing cracks in the ground, or summoning up waves of water**

9) Unknown

**They say there are nine of them. There are, but the last one is still waiting to be discovered. Legend has it that the generation of Schaeffers mysteriously died off before they finished making the last one with their dark witchcraft. They were insane.**

Aelita looks back up towards Jeremie with shaking hands and widened eyes.

"Are you okay, Aelita?" asks Jeremie with a face clearly displaying concern.

Aelita nods slowly, and Jeremie helps her sit down. The Princess sets her hands on the table, still shaking violently. They sit together for ten minutes in silence, giving Aelita time to calm down. Finally, Aelita chokes out, "So m-my father..."

Jeremie nods, "-is the heir. But don't worry, he didn't want it of course. So he stopped the making of the last one."

Aelita breathes a sigh of relief. She then says, "So how did you guys get them, and how did Dominik?"

Jeremie shrugs. "It looks like there's a connection between The Queen of Spain, your Father, and Dominik, but nobody knows what."

The Princess nods slowly. "This is a lot to take in," she says, laughing lightly. "Thank you for filling me in... I feel a lot safer now."

Jeremie nods, and after a few minutes of awkward silence, he then says, "So...are you hungry? Let's grab dinner."

* * *

**So how was that? I like it, LOL. Show me by clicking that review button, or clicking that fave button, or that follow button, I don't care. Just show me that you like it! :) Bye guys!**

**Oh, and P.S: if you're wondering why the descriptions of the Items of Schaeffer are so sloppy, then just pretend that it was written in French, and loosely translated into English.. LOL.**


	11. Plans

**Hey guys! Quick update! Thanks so much for all the positive feedback, all the reviews, follows, and faves. Here's chapter 10. Sit back, relax, and enjoy! :) This is mostly filler (but important nevertheless, so read it!), but I had fun writing anyway.**

* * *

Chapter 10: Plans (psh, yeah, I know, stupid title for this chapter)

The battlefield bakes with heat, the gravel almost too hot to walk on, as the sun is a conspicuous sphere in the clear sky, clouds only sprinkling it. Yumi and Ulrich spar, nothing out of the ordinary, as Odd sits back to watch them, all the while amusing his dog, Kiwi.

Odd throws the neon green sphere of a tennis ball, and watches as Kiwi's miniscule feet pitter patter along the blunt rocks of gravel, following it with desire to catch it. As the purple-clad teen waits for his diggity dog to return with the ball in his mouth, he leans his head back on a rock, resting it on his arms, and listens to the familiar kicks, grunts, and punches coming from the sparring pair.

A thud enters Odd's ears, and he opens his eyes, breaking out of his field of tranquility. He finds Ulrich laying on the ground, a red mark running along his left cheek, and Yumi standing next to him, her fists out and her elbows bent. A victory smile is plastered along Yumi's face, and Odd only chuckles.

Yumi puts her hands on her hips and says, "Three to two, I beat you again, Ulrich!" She then offers her hand, and Ulrich takes it, pulling it with enough force to send Yumi down onto the floor also, right beside Ulrich.

Ulrich then turns to face Yumi's right ear, and whispers, "Three to three."

Yumi turns to face him, and scoffs. She then picks up a handful of gravel, and throws it in his face. "And that-" Yumi gets up, wiping her hands off on her black sweater, "-is for pulling me down with you." She then laughs, as Ulrich spats out a rock.

"Hey guys," says Odd, getting up. "Do any one of you know where Jeremie and Aelita are?"

Ulrich gets up to stand beside Yumi, dusting off his hands on his army jacket. He then shakes his head, his shaggy hair shaking from left to right.

"Well, I know that Jeremie's headed to the library," says Yumi, tapping her index finger against her chin. "I think he's trying to map out Dominik's marching patterns. But then again, what they're doing is none of their business."

Ulrich smirks, and takes battle stance. "Ready for round five?" he asks.

Yumi follows the same gesture, and smiles. "You're on."

Odd then walks in between them, interrupting their match, and says, "C'mon guys, don't you want to at least know what they're doing?"

Just then, a foot comes crashing down on Odd's stomach, sending him towards the ground and knocking the wind out of him. He rolls up his magenta shirt a few inches, and finds a purplish-black bruise starting to grow across his white skin. "What the hell was that for?!" he yells, fixing his shirt back into place.

Ulrich shrugs. "You should've stayed out of the way."

Yumi shoves Ulrich aside, and says, "What he meant to say was, that he's _sorry_." Yumi then gives Ulrich a condescending look.

"Whatever," Odd replies, limping back to his rock. "Agh," he whispers in pain, pressing his fingers lightly on the large bruise.

"You should go to the Healing Hand for that," says Yumi. "Are you going to need any help?"

"I got it! Watch Kiwi for me!" Odd yells back, waving as he started his walk towards the battlefield's doors.

* * *

When dinner arrived, the group sat at their table. The usual events occured: Odd cracked the bad jokes, Jeremie told them about their upcoming mission, and the others listened intently and occasionally laughed.

"So guys," says Jeremie, poking at his peas and carrots, "how does another reconnaissance mission sound?"

"I think it sounds great," replies Yumi. "But we _are _going to be really careful, right? Because if you think about it, France is still a standing country. Aelita is technically the Queen. If we lose her to Dominik, that's another country down the drain." She then turns to Aelita. "And I care about you."

Aelita smiles back at Yumi, quietly thanking her for her concern.

Odd then chimes in, "No need to worry; you've got four awesome bodyguards right here! More importantly, Odd the Magnificent!"

"So where are we going?" asks Aelita, turning her gaze towards Jeremie.

The young einstein smiles. "I'm glad you asked. We're going to Spain's Plaza, also known as, the Square."

* * *

**Author's Note: By the way, Spain's Square Plaza doesn't exist...so yeah.. but everywhere has to have a Plaza, right? LOL, sorry, I'm kinda bad at all this research. But I promise, the bad geography will not hinder my writing quality whatsoever.. It'll just be partly American influenced. So thanks for reading anyway! Love you all. (:**


	12. Recreation? Bad Idea

**Hey guys! Here's another chapter. It's getting really good, in my opinion, but I'll let you guys decide. So sit back, relax, and enjoy! Happy reading! :)**

* * *

Chapter 11: Recreation? Bad Idea.

Today is Sunday, the day where all of Eurasia's Army has the day off. It is the day of the week where everyone gets to relax, edging away from their usual schedule: eating, training, and sleeping. It is a day of happiness, but also a day of worry and dread.

Dominik's men have been flying all over Spain, trying to look for any signs of the Princess, after taking into account that Spain is still one of the very few countries that the king has not conquered yet. Luckily, Eurasia's Army's headquarters is designed to look like a regular one story home, the battlefield looking as the backyard. It is comfortably nestled between two neighboring houses, a decent camouflage.

Today, even when it is supposed to be a day of relaxation, the four main warriors decided to have a reconnaissance mission. Caution is required, for they have to protect Aelita but use her as bait at the same time.

This morning Aelita wakes up happy and refreshed. She remembers that Jeremie invited her to go and hang out with his friends, a.k.a. his teammates, out in the streets of Spain. The plan for today is unknown, for they are going to let whatever attracts them decide what they are going to do.

But that's when Aelita realizes the events of the past few weeks. Her parents' murders. Dominik invading her country. Being tortured and recruited into an army that put her life at risk. Warm tears start to flow down Aelita's face, and she slams her fist hard onto the white tiled floor of her makeshift bedroom. She looks up towards the white popcorn ceiling, clenching her teeth, and lets a few creative words slip out from her mouth, curses to King Dominik.

Anger starts to boil up inside Aelita. No words can express the extreme hate she has toward Dominik. Still unsatisfied, she forcefully slides open the glass door and exits her bedroom, resisting the urge to stomp her feet and wake everyone up.

When she arrived at the bathroom, she turns on the tap, making sure it is icy cold. Letting the water flow freely down the drain, Aelita looks at herself at the large glass mirror in front of her. She is annoyed to see that the mirror shows her bright pink hair heavily tangled, and her eyes puffy and bloodshot. Closing her eyes shut, Aelita splashes some water onto her face, washing all the tears off and cringing slightly at the sudden cold.

When she was finished, she turns off the tap, and watches the water flow and disappear inside the drain. She grips the sides of the sink very tightly, letting her knuckles turn a ghostly white. Aelita takes several deep breaths, and forces back the tears burning at the back of her eyes that threatened to escape.

Having calmed down, Aelita walks to the showering chambers, and lets the warm water wash her thoughts away.

At the mess hall, Aelita sits alone, and waits for the others, not in the mood to chat. She rests her cheek inside her palm, and pokes around her food, her appetite having dissipated long ago. An exhausted look is set on her face.

Hearing the scurrying sounds of footsteps approaching, Aelita immediately looks up. She finds Odd smiling at down at her, and Yumi, Ulrich, and Jeremie following close behind him.

"Hey, Princess!" greets Odd gleefully, sitting himself down. The others do the same.

Aelita forces out a smirk. "Is that my new nickname now?"

"Well, you are one, aren't you?"

Jeremie laces his fingers together, and rests them on the cold, metallic table. He then says, "Okay guys, here's the plan: protect Aelita at all costs. To ensure confidentiality, Ulrich will be storing his swords inside Odd's guitar case, and so will Yumi with her tessen fans. Odd, since your bow is too large, you will be using a nail gun. Same principle, same effect."

Yumi scrunches her eyebrows, and says, "Are you serious, Jeremie? A nail gun?" Ulrich forces back a laugh.

Odd frowns, and nods. "Yumi's right. It's not even cool."

Jeremie sighs, and says, "Last night, I've been sharpening the nails. So they will be as sharp as your arrows. Don't worry, everything will be fine."

"What about me?" asks Aelita. "Shouldn't I bring my daggers?"

Jeremie points his gaze at Aelita, and says, "When Dominik's henchmen approach, you will be running away from the fight with me."

"But shouldn't I at least be prepared for the fight if time doesn't allow us to flee?"

Jeremie nods with a face of seriousness, and says, "Alright then. We meet in ten. See you guys."

* * *

After breakfast, the four warriors and the princess disperse for last minute preparations. They pack their weapons inside Odd's guitar case, and meet up with Aelita inside the empty training arena.

"Okay, guys," says Jeremie, clasping his hands together. "Let's go. Yumi?"

The Japanese geisha nods, and unclips the Dragon Barrette, causing her short, raven black hair to frame her face. She launches it high into the air, as high as the wooden ceiling beams, and whispers, "Dragon teleportation."

A bright red light engulfs the barrette, and makes its way towards the ground. It stops descending once it hovers just a few meters off the ground, and the light grows, getting brighter by the second. Once the light takes the shape of a tall rectangle, the light disappears, leaving an endless black and red void behind it. Yumi smiles.

Aelita cautiously edges towards the void, and stares deep inside it. The creepy nature of the swirling red and black envelope her, and she gets a bit hesitant. "S-so we are supposed to launch ourselves into this ominous portal?"

"Yeah," says Ulrich, putting his hands onto his hips. "Unless you prefer walking."

Aelita ignores him, and completely focuses on the portal. A bead of sweat slowly glides down the left side of her face.

"C'mon, Aelita," says Jeremie, concerned for her well being. "The portal is going to seal itself soon, and we're going to have to conjure it up again."

Aelita gulps and manages to form a weak smile, thanking Jeremie for the mediocre encouragement. Slowly, she walks into the portal, first placing one foot inside. Seeing that nothing frightening takes place, she holds her breath, and in one, abrupt step she brings the rest of her body inside.

The opening that she entered through seals closed, and after a blur of iridescent colors, she finds herself in Spain's Square Plaza, an open marketplace and recreational center for all Spaniards. The ground is gray tiled, and surrounding her are small shacks crowded with bombarding people. The aisles are streaming with hundreds of people; most who are struggling to get through. The aisles all feed into the large entrance that the five are standing at right now, where the myriads of crowded people disperse, usually relieved to leave the smoldering crowd. The shacks meld into a wide array of vibrant colors, even more emphasized under the inconspicuous sun. All around you could hear the managers of the tiny shacks yelling their heads off to gather people to buy or take part in their product, and customers laughing from pure enjoyment of their time. Aelita gazes around in wonder, her eyes sparkling with excitement.

"Let's go have some fun!" says Odd, fist pumping the air.

"Hold on a second, Odd," says Yumi, holding her hand out to restrain Odd from moving. She turns to Jeremie, and a frown forms on her face. "Jeremie, there are too many people here. Once Dominik comes, it will cause a panic throughout the whole plaza. I thought that we were going to somewhere more desolate, somewhere Dominik can see us better?"

Jeremie readjusts his glasses. "I wanted to put us into plain sight, but not too plain in sight. I just thought that the camouflage of the many people here would be good enough to slow down Dominik's men."

"So you're willing to risk the lives of the hundreds of people? You're going to scare everyone!"

"Not if I use this," says Jeremie, pulling out a Sapphire ring. Yumi gasps. "The Guardian's Ring. I will cast a force field all around every single individual here. Since Dominik's side doesn't have the Sword of Schaeffer, they won't be able to get through. And since Dominik does not take pleasure in arousing hype amongst people just for the sake of a tiny mission, they will be using the Cloak of Visibility and Sound on both sides **(A/N: Users of the robe are able to see each other)**. We will fight inconspicuously, but be careful not to bump into anyone, it will arouse suspicion."

"You are a genius," says Ulrich.

"Thank you very much," says Jeremie, grinning from ear to ear. "It will be a battle in the shadows."

"Where did you manage to get the ring anyway?" asks Yumi, confused. "I thought Dominik's side has it."

"I killed the henchman possessing the ring," says Ulrich, smiling at her. "Seeing my chance, I took it."

Yumi grins at Ulrich, happy for his accomplishment.

"So where off to?" asks Aelita.

"Me and Ulrich will stick together," says Yumi, linking her arm with Ulrich's, jerking him close. It causes him to clumsily withdraw his hands from his pockets, and Yumi only laughs.

"Give me a warning next time," says Ulrich, glaring at Yumi.

Yumi smirks. "Let's just go!" she says, and they take off.

Odd yawns. "While those two lovebirds take their sweet time, I'll just be going off myself. It's been a while since I've got some nice pictures of my adventures." He pulls out his camera, and smiles. "Bye guys!" He waves, and walks off, disappearing into the crowd.

"That leaves me and you," says Aelita, smiling at him.

"Yeah," says Jeremie awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck. He gestures towards the aisles of shacks. "Where do you want to go?"

Aelita stares at the aisles blankly. "Thou want me to choose? I am unfamiliar with what you people do around here. Daddy never let me out of the castle, except out into the courtyard."

Jeremie stands there dumbfounded, mad at the fact that Aelita had to spend seventeen years of her life locked inside a castle. But he wasn't going to let it continue any longer. He straightens up, and says, "Maybe I should show you the ways of middle class people like us, and I'll promise you that you will enjoy it. That is, if you want to." He bows his head, and offers his hand to Aelita. "Shall we?"

Aelita grins, her white lacy dress swaying across her waist and her short hair flinging with the wind. She gingerly places her hand into Jeremie's, and says, "I gladly accept your invitation. Please lead the way."

And together they intertwine their fingers in a friendly gesture, and let the crowd take them wherever they did.

* * *

Aelita and Jeremie weave through the crowd at a sluggish pace, Aelita struggling to keep hold of Jeremie to keep from getting lost. Jeremie abruptly stops in front of a cotton candy stand, and Aelita accidently bumps into him from behind. Backing away, Aelita looks up and sees Jeremie furrowing his brow.

"Sorry, Aelita, I didn't mean for that to happen."

"I am okay. I thank you for your concern."

Jeremie quickly turns away from Aelita, and whips back around with a ball of pink fluff. Aelita looks at it, and jabs her slim finger into it, surprised at the stickiness of it. She widens her eyes, and withdraws her finger from it, unexpectedly seeing some stray strands of the fluff attached to it. "What is this?" she asks.

Jeremie chuckles, clearly amused by her naïve nature, and says, "Cotton candy. It's edible," answering her next question.

"So this cotton- I'm supposed to consume it?"

"Yup. Give it a taste." Jeremie holds the candy out in front of her, and she tears a bit off. She places the pink chunk into her mouth, and tries to chew at it. Instead, it quickly vanishes, leaving a sweet, sugary taste behind. Aelita widens her eyes, and smiles in pleasure.

"How wonderful."

* * *

Meanwhile, Yumi and Ulrich take their time walking through the aisles, trying to find something that interests them. "You find anything you like yet?" asks Yumi, turning towards Ulrich.

Ulrich shrugs, and says, "Nope."

Reaching the end of the aisle, Yumi and Ulrich arrive at another large area that the aisles feed out into. Right in the center, there is a group of dancers in black-clad commando like outfits. Yumi's eyes spark in interest. "I want to join them," she says.

"You don't mean dance, do you?" asks Ulrich, hesitant.

"Look at them, I can totally show them up," says Yumi, a mischievous look on her face. She looks down on herself, seeing her gray top that bunches around her waist with short white lacy sleeves. She paired it with a pair of black leggings and combat boots. "Besides, my outfit totally fits with the vibe they're going for."

Ulrich hunches his shoulders, looking up into the sky. In the corner of his eye, he sees movement on the roof of a nearby shack. His eyes shoot towards it, and he sees about a dozen cloaked figures. They look directly down upon him, and Ulrich cringes at the sight of them. One of them pulls out a cloak from their shawl, and conceals it over themselves, disappearing on contact. Right across from the previous group, there is another group of cloaked figures, who also conceal themselves. The roofs of the shacks rustling right after tell Ulrich that they had just run on top of them, away from Ulrich and Yumi. "I think we're going to have to delay your fun," says Ulrich, turning back at Yumi. "I just saw some of Dominik's henchmen."

Yumi looks at him in shock, her interest level and adrenaline skyrocketing. "Where?" she asks.

"They just used the Cloak of Visibility and Sound on themselves, and took off in the direction away from us. I think they recognized us from before, and now they are heading to look for Jeremie and Aelita." Ulrich looks at her with a worried look.

"We have to warn them right away!" says Yumi, pulling out her mobile from inside her boot. "I'm calling Jeremie. You call Odd."

Ulrich nods, and takes out his phone from the pocket of his loose jeans. He starts to dial.

* * *

Meanwhile, Odd takes a relaxing stroll down the aisles of Spain's Square Plaza. His phone vibrates in the pocket of his khakis, and immediately he pulls it out. "What's up, Ulrich, dear?"

"Dominik's henchmen are coming. They're going to look for Aelita. Meet back at the entrance…." Ulrich narrows his eyes. "Don't call me that ever again."

Odd smiles, barely concealing laughter. "Of course. I'll be there as fast as I can."

Odd shuts his phone, and makes a mad dash towards the entrance.

* * *

Meanwhile, Aelita and Jeremie just left a photo booth. Aelita is still laughing, and she says, "Grammercy. I really enjoyed that. You know, a stern leader like you, it's pretty impossible to tell you have a gentle, kind side."

Jeremie smiles, and says, "No problem, Aelita, I had lots of fun too." His phone vibrates. "One sec."

Aelita looks at him with curiosity, as Jeremie pulls out his phone. He flips it open, and says, "Yes, Yumi?"

"Dominik's henchmen! Meet back at the entrance!"

"Okay, we'll be there right away."

"Did I mention that they are heading towards you, since they're looking for Aelita? Oh, and that they're invisible?"

Jeremie looks up into the sky with frustration, and sees Dominik's henchmen jumping around the roofs of shacks, as if they're playing a game of leapfrog. He furrows his brow. "I can see them, Yumi. They must've used the cloak on us already. And they're coming towards us. I have to go. Thanks for the heads-up."

Jeremie shuts his phone and then says, "Aelita, we have to go."

"Is there something wrong?" she asks with concern.

"Yeah. Dominik's men are here."

Aelita widens her eyes.

Jeremie sees her face contort with fear, and he says, "Don't worry, Aelita. We're not going to let you get hurt. Right now, we have to leave." He grabs her wrist and they take off in the same direction the cloaked figures are moving, trying to create more space between them. Aelita follows Jeremie obediently, careful not to bump into anyone to cause suspicion.

Two cloaked figures flash before them, jumping down from the shacks' roofs. Jeremie reaches for his daggers, hidden inside his satchel, and gives about ten of them to Aelita. Instead of seeing her usual somber black and brown daggers, she received daggers with metallic pink handles and white blades. She smiles, and takes battle stance, pointing a dagger in each hand towards them, daring them to move any closer. The other eight daggers, she deposits inside the pockets of her dress.

Everyone stands there completely frozen for about a minute, trying to stare each other down. Someone had to move every now and then, to avoid anyone from bumping into them, invisible beings. The tense atmosphere didn't intimidate even one of the adversaries.

Without warning, one of the cloaked figures lunge at Aelita, making her fall back and launch the beginning of combat. Soon after, the one facing Jeremie attacks also, but Jeremie dodges. Aelita's opponent lands on top of her, and forcefully, she plunges the tip of the blade into the cloaked figure's chest, causing him to dissipate into thin air. Aelita hastily gets up, and turns back to look at Jeremie to see how he is holding up. Aiming as precisely as she could, Aelita throws one of her knives towards the cloaked figure from behind, flicking her wrist. At the same time, Jeremie throws his knife towards the cloaked figure from up front. Aelita's knife connects with its chest first, and her knife clatters to the ground as it disappears into thin air. Unfortunately, Jeremie's knife keeps on proceeding forward, and it almost slices Aelita's cheek, for if she not had jerked to the right. The knife connects with one of the wooden posts supporting one of the shacks, and the wood splinters around it. The managers of the shack didn't seem to notice, for their weapons and other belongings have been made to disappear as well.

Aelita stares at the wooden post in shock, her heart skipping a beat from almost being sliced. "I helped you, and this is what I get? You almost had me executed!" She glares at Jeremie, but he remained indifferent.

"No time, sorry, let's go," says Jeremie, pulling Aelita suddenly by the wrist. Not expecting this, Aelita starts to follow behind him clumsily, as they make their way towards the plaza's entrance.

As Jeremie and Aelita ran, it seems like the crowd was thinning out, making it easier for the two of them to make it towards the entrance without running into anyone.

* * *

Meanwhile, Yumi and Ulrich are in a big jam. Six cloaked figures stand before them, and the pair are unarmed, whereas each and every one of their opponents have a sword. Yumi and Ulrich's weapons are still with Odd, inside his guitar case.

"Let's go!" yells Yumi, grabbing for Ulrich's wrist. They turn around, away from the cloaked figures, and disappear into the crowded aisle. This frustrates Dominik's henchmen, as they hopelessly try to get through the crowd and reach their opponents. "Ulrich, do you have any ideas as for what to do?"

Ulrich acknowledges Yumi's question, looking around for any clever ideas. There are too many people here, but it is possible for Dominik's men to catch up with them. He stares up at the roofs. "I have one idea."

Yumi notices where Ulrich was looking up at, and says, "Oh no, you cannot be serious. Do you _want_ to die? Ah!" Ulrich grabs Yumi, and carefully leads her towards a random shack's counter. Luckily, the counter is wooden, and it did not shake as they place their feet firmly onto it. Ulrich then wraps his hands along the edge of the roof, and with upper body strength, pulls himself up first. Yumi stands on the counter watching him, and narrows her eyes.

"Well we don't have any other ideas," says Ulrich, reaching his arms down for Yumi. She stays hesitant, and from the right, Ulrich could see the cloaked figures closing in on them. "Hurry up!"

Yumi also notices them coming, and with a burst of energy, grabs Ulrich's hands. He pulls her up, and they start their unstable run towards the entrance, with no one to slow them down. Looking back, Yumi sees that the enemies had also followed suit, and in one fluid motion launch themselves off from the ground. They land on a roof just five shacks behind the pair of warriors, and make a mad dash towards them. In a desperate attempt, one of Dominik's men hurls its sword towards Yumi, and Ulrich pushes her out of the way. It slices painfully at his left side, and Ulrich doubles over in pain, using all of his strength to stay on top of the roof. Meanwhile, from the push, Yumi hangs helplessly on the roof's edge, her fingers barely gripping onto it. Ulrich picks up the enemy's sword, and gets up clumsily, his left hand putting pressure on the wound. He then grips the hilt of the sword with both of his hands, for the sword is very cumbersome. In just a matter of seconds, the cloaked figures reach Ulrich, and he is face to face with half a dozen enemies. The first one, who is unarmed because of Ulrich, lunges at him first, signaling four more to help it take him out. He stabs the sword into the unarmed one's chest, and it disappears, leaving four angry enemies looking at him in disdain. At the same time, the last cloaked figure approaches Yumi's hanging fingers, and with his foot, kicks them off the edge. Yumi screams as she fell, and lands with a sickening crack on the tiled floor. She tries to move her hand, but her fingers are cracked also from the kick. Trying to get up, she screams again. There is too much pain pulsating inside her to even move. Yumi lays helplessly in the silence of the closing and emptying Plaza.

Back at Ulrich's side, he hears Yumi fall, and pure rage flows through him. He slices aimlessly at the remaining five enemies, but they all deflect his blows with their swords. Ulrich quickly crouches down, wincing from the pain, and tries a roundhouse kick in a desperate attempt to trip over the cloaked figures' legs. Only two of them were clever enough to jump, leaving three of them laying on the floor. As Ulrich ignored the two standing cloaked figures, he stabs at the fallen ones, and they disappear into dust. The other two notice him occupied, and slice at his back.

Ulrich turns around in pain, but all he gets is the flat of a sword slamming his right cheek, sending him hurtling towards the floor dripping with blood. Yumi and Ulrich are eliminated from the fight.

* * *

Back on Odd's side, he makes it to the entrance unharmed. He was being chased by a few of Dominik's henchmen, and they haven't caught up yet. Odd notices that Yumi, Ulrich, Jeremie, and Aelita haven't arrived yet. He figures that they must have been delayed. Looking behind him, he sees the cloaked figures approaching. "Well, let's take this fight out into the park," he says to himself. Odd exits the Plaza through the entrance, and runs out into the sidewalks of Spain. The enemies hot on his trail, he races to the secluded park next door, empty because of the late hours. Once there, he climbs up a tree, and stays concealed in its abundant amount of leaves. The cloaked figures run right past him, and Odd relaxes on the tree branch, resting his back on the rough bark of the tree.

And that's when Odd finds a cloaked figure right up his face from a tree branch at the left of him. It was about to slice at his arm when Odd quickly retrieves his nail gun from his pocket, and shoots a sharpened nail right in its face, sending it falling towards the ground. It disappears into thin air once it hits the floor.

Odd looks down, and finds two more enemies at the foot of the tree. He smiles, and recklessly jumps off the tree branch. He grabs for another branch near him, and holds onto it like a monkey bar. Odd swings his whole body back and forth to gather momentum, and lets go. His whole body launches from the branch, and as he falls, he aims the nail gun at the two enemies, puncturing both of them square in the chest.

Odd lands on all fours to separate the shock of the fall, and takes off back towards the Plaza.

* * *

Back at the Plaza, Odd sees Aelita and Jeremie, each fighting off their own group of foes. And they're barely winning. Aelita's white dress is stained with tiny streaks of blood, and her bottom lip had split. Jeremie, on the other hand, looks worse. His blue button down polo and his face is soaked with blood, but no signs of harm on his arms or legs. It seemed like they weren't going to make it, for they are far outnumbered. Odd barges into the fight, shooting in all directions. He takes out many of the enemies, but more kept on coming.

Odd was going to help Aelita, but a group of six cloaked figures come from behind, and with their swords, slam Odd hard onto the ground. A thudding sound emitted when he hit the floor, causing him to ache in pain. Aelita widens her eyes at the sight. The cloaked figures raise their swords high up into the air and were going to plunge it right through Odd's abdomen when-

"WAIT!"

Everyone turns heads towards Aelita. Giving up, she calms down, knowing that there is no other choice, and then says, "I will make you a deal. Leave my friends alone, and I shall give myself up to you and your King."

Jeremie, who is now pinned to the ground looks up to the Princess. "Aelita….." He gives her a pleading look. "He will kill you."

"Jeremie..." she whispers, looking back at him with an emotionless face. "You know well that there is no choice.. I'm only slowing down your mission of ever defeating Dominik. I don't want you to risk your lives anymore just for the sake of my life... I thank you again for everything."

"Aelita, please.." Jeremie's face is streaked with dirt and blood. He is in a terrible state, and tears start to roll down his face, melding with the residue on his cheeks. He reaches his arm out towards Aelita, and she looks back at him with a stoic face, her arms now restrained by two of Dominik's men. "You can... get away." He coughs, and a load of blood exits his mouth.

Aelita whips her head to the right, and says something to one of them that Jeremie couldn't make out. He was losing consciousness. The cloaked figure nods, and all Jeremie could see before its foot forcefully connected with his face was Aelita, eyes brimming with tears. "AELITA!" he yells.

"I'm sorry," whispers Aelita, watching as his face lowers in a state of unconsciousness. "Goodbye Jeremie."

* * *

**Author's Note: How was that? I love it. And I hope you love it.**

**What happens now?**

**Is Aelita going to get killed?**

**Without Aelita, is there no more hope for France, or on a bigger scale, Europe?**

**Many questions soon to be answered! Bye guys! Love you all. *Mwah! :)**


	13. Loss

**Wassup (my lame attempt to be cool, LOL), guys! Qiuick update! (before I go to bed) I'm getting so much positive feedback! :) I hope you're enjoying this story as much as I am writing it. Here's chapter 12. Even if this chapter is really short, it still is my favorite, because I love all the emotions and confessions pouring out, and how it takes a break from the action. So sit back, relax, and enjoy!**

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Chapter 12: Loss

Unfortunately, Dominik's take over of China is his biggest achievement yet, and his army is as big as ever. Russia is his next target, and it's no doubt that he will succeed, after all, almost the entire continent is in his grasp.

Currently, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Great Britain, and Ireland are the only countries in Europe standing. Besides Russia, Asia is done for.

* * *

"I promised to keep her safe."

"She gave herself up for the greater good."

"I don't know much about her, but I know she is worth my friendship."

"She was a generous, noble, enviable princess."

In the darkness descending upon them in the battlefield, the group of warriors sit in a circle. Night is falling, appearing with its usual cold, chilly air. Moonlight highlights their faces, and also lights up their tears, making them look so iridescent. Currently, they're going around in a circle, saying things that they wish Aelita were here to listen to. All except Jeremie are attending, who left right after he said his part, too upset to face anyone.

After the incident, it seemed like Aelita was somehow able to contact the rest of Eurasia's Army, for their bodies were found by a few others from the organization. They were brought back to headquarters, their bodies mangled and disastrous, and the Healing Hand of Schaeffer was used on them. Yumi, Ulrich, Jeremie, and Odd woke up in a state of confusion to the welcoming sunlight. During the day, they trudged around in mourning as they were bombarded with questions from the other teammates outside their group, begging for more details other than the short summary given to them by the Queen. Most of the time, the four warriors shrugged them off, for they thought that it wasn't any of their business.

Everyone now respects Aelita, for if she didn't take part in what she did, the four best fighters would have died, and Eurasia's Army would stand hilariously outnumbered against the forces of King Dominik. So lounging are the warriors now, in the darkness of the night, to speak to one another.

"It was wrong for me to be unkind to her. I was ignorant, but now she gains my full respect. If she hadn't done what she did, we would all be in the dust by now," says Ulrich guiltily.

Yumi places a hand on his shoulder, and they smile at each other. Meanwhile, Odd sits there in awkwardness, his mind carefully contemplating last night's events. Right when he was about to get stabbed and killed, she made the choice. Seeing that he was going to die, she stopped it.

She saved him.

"But we're not the ones with the real problem. Now Jeremie has to deal with the Queen's interrogation, and he seems to be taking this..harder than we all are," mentions Yumi.

* * *

"What were thou thinking?!"

"I was thinking of the best way to find out about the enemy!" yells Jeremie in rage at the Queen. "Do you want to train forever, not knowing what he is capable of?!" he yells, trying to be reasonable. "Well, thanks to this helpful reconnaissance mission, now we know that King Dominik has the finest army composed of the dead and alive. Thousands of them. The dead matter contained in the microscopic powder proved it."

"You don't understand, Jeremie..." says the Queen, pinching the space in between her eyes. "Since Dominik found ye all in Spain, he now knows our current position. He knows which country our headquarters are hiding in, and he might be contemplating on how he is going to take us down as we speak! Thou have seen how he almost killed thou four, our best fighters, now try guess how easy it'll be to take the rest of us down. Thy 'mission' was reckless, thou should've consented me before giving the go."

Jeremie still stands with his face held high and says, "Move our headquarters if you want. But if you think that we are going to die that easily, then so be it. But let me tell you this: Dominik might have almost killed the four strongest, but if all of us, us four and the thousands of other fighters we have here team up, I can almost guarantee that we will take him down. The strongest alone may not be enough to take down the King, but if the strongest work together with the rest of the army, it will."

"Thou have some big words coming out of his mouth."

"Doesn't mean it can't be accomplished," retorted Jeremie, ending the conversation. He turns sharply around his heel, and walks out of the throne room through the glass doors, leaving the aghast Queen behind.

* * *

Jeremie enters his room with his head hung and his bangs falling over his eyes. Grudgingly, he walks over to his writing desk, pulls out the chair, and forcefully plops himself down. He crosses his arms over the flat surface and places his head on it, to cover the tears slowly falling down his face. A few minutes later, he slowly raises his head and slides his arms across the table angrily, knocking everything over and onto the floor.

As the maps, pencils, and papers slowly scatter themselves across his bedroom, he repeatedly slams his tightly clenched fists on the table. He then screams.

"Stupid!" he yells over his clenched teeth. "AGH!" he pulls forcefully at his bright blonde hair, hoping that it would fall out. He then walks over to the plain white wall, still boiling with anger, and with his nails, scrapes everything clean off it: more maps, written plans, and pictures. Rage pulsates throughout his veins and elevates as he punched the wall repeatedly. He curses under his breath when he found his knuckles bleeding, and walks out to get to the Healing Hand.

Reaching out into the arena, he finds Yumi, Odd, and Ulrich waiting for him outside. They all have the same worried look on their faces, and a smile of gratitude flickers across his own, but only for a second. Jeremie shrugs them off and heads for the weapon shed. Much to his disliking, his close friends persist, and follow him as he walks farther and farther away from his room.

"Hey," says Odd, placing his arm on Jeremie's shoulders, "you okay, man?"

"No," replies Jeremie in a low, monotonous tone.

"Well," says Yumi, grinning, "We know just how to help you. We are going to rescue Aelita, but only if you wish to." Ulrich nods, with a serious expression on his face.

Jeremie pauses his walk and whips around, anger still clearly evident on his face. "Don't you think I thought about that?" he says aggressively, causing Odd to back away slightly. "For all I know, she could be dead by now. And we can die, like we nearly did just yesterday going outside of these headquarters."

"We've done it before, rescuing Aelita," says Ulrich, slamming his right fist into his left hand with force. "We can do it again."

"Oh yeah?" says Jeremie, giving Ulrich a look that says 'idiot' all over it. Ulrich glares back, but Jeremie remains unhindered. "The only reason why we were able to rescue her before was that that was the first time we ever faced Dominik. He didn't know what we were capable of. He thought that we were a bunch of idiot teenagers that couldn't do anything. He wasn't ready before. But yesterday, he already knew about us, and he was prepared to defeat us, sending all he could towards us- And anyway, Dominik's in Russia now. We don't know where Aelita is. Either she's in the France castle, or in his Russian campout."

"Then we'll check both," says Odd eagerly.

"Yeah," Yumi chimes in, determined. "She risked her life to save ours, and now we're going to return the favor."

Jeremie turns around, and continues his walk towards the weapon shed. Opening up the door, he looks back at them, and says with a serious look, "Okay, but only on one condition."

"Shoot," says Ulrich, pointing his index finger at him.

"We bring the rest of the army with us."

And with that, Jeremie enters the weapon shed and shuts the door, leaving the other three to look at each other with doubtful faces.

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**Author's Note: Will the rest of the army and the four strongest warriors finally learn to cooperate?**

**Will they succeed in rescuing Aelita?**

**What is Dominik planning to do with the captured Princess?**

**Many questions soon to be answered! :) Review! (or fave, or follow) Pretty please with a cherry on top? Okay that was just weird.. I'd love to know what you guys think of my story so far/this chapter! (:**


	14. Hypothermia on the Sayan Mountains

**Hey guys! Oh my gosh, I cannot thank you enough for the great reviews (and the faves, and the follows)!** **People on this website are so nice! Compared to a lot of YouTube comments I read (but I still love YouTube)... LOL.**

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Chapter 13: Hypothermia on the Sayan Mountains

Aelita sits in one of the many tents on the Sayan Mountains of Russia. It is just one of the many campouts Dominik has; there is one in every country. Her breathing is shallow and visible, and she wraps the thick blanket around herself even tighter around her thin body- at least Dominik has some mercy.. Or he wants to kill Aelita first before letting the cold get to her. Another breeze blows right through her, and Aelita shivers as a response to the sudden burst of cold. She swore that the air could've dropped another ten degrees just now. At this rate, Aelita thinks that she can die of hypothermia before Dominik even has the chance to torture her.

Aelita closes her eyes, and realizing that she's falling asleep, perks up immediately. She rubs her hands together and blows at them, trying to warm them up. She then throws the blanket off herself, taking notice at the icy shards of air eating at her skin, and starts to do mild crunches to keep herself warm.

Around her, the sounds of clinking swords and yelling fill Aelita's ears. She concentrates on her exercise, trying to block out the fact that many people could be dying right this second.

After about twenty minutes of crunches, Aelita dares a peek outside of her tent. Lifting up the flap, she sees that snow had just started to sprinkle the pointed peaks of the mountain range. What she also sees is the numerous amount of blood soaked bodies strewn across the rocky ground. She instinctively jerks back into the tent after the sight of the latter. Aelita goes back to hugging herself together inside the cotton softness of the blanket, trying to preserve as much body heat as she could.

* * *

Meanwhile, Dominik sits in his own tent in the Sayan Mountains, with his second-in-command general. Dominik's lanky figure is wrapped in a black shawl hemmed with white fur, his crown snug on the bed of his flat blonde hair. The general is in heavy armor, except for his head, which is not covered in the helmet for proper conversation with the King. Between them is a large map, with red markings all over Eurasia: red flags on conquered land, orange tents for campouts, and dotted lines for marching routes.

"So what thou are saying is...there are more of them?" asks King Dominik, resting his chin on his right fist. His eye brows are furrowed together in frustration, his eyes narrowed.

"Aye, your majesty" answers the General with intense seriousness. "What you saw... those four protecting princess Aelita... they're not the only ones. There are more. After we left them laying on the floor in the plaza, some of your patrol saw a few more picking them up to tend with their wounds. It seemed like they used some kind of device to bring them back home... a golden barrette of some sort-"

"The Dragon Barrette!" Dominik slams his fist on the floor, giving everything a mild shake. "They're the ones that have it! I should've known!"

"Excuse me?" says the General, clearly confused. "What can a barrette possibly do with this mission?"

"The Items of Schaeffer," says Dominik, having restored his tranquility. "There are nine of them. Having one gives you unimaginable powers. Having that dragon barrette can save us days of time, since we won't have to march there by foot anymore. And our numbers won't deteriorate."

"Anyway," says the General, clearly uninterested. "What do you want us to do about these nuisances?"

"Send about half of our dead army towards their headquarters," says Dominik maniacally, circling Spain with his red marker. "They won't stand a chance. We now know where they are, so they can't cower in fear and hide from me anymore."

"At your orders, sire," says the General, turning sharply around to leave the tent. Dominik watches as his cape billows with the wind and he smiles once he is alone.

"And I will deal with Russia's dead numbers myself," says King Dominik, retrieving The Death's Skull from inside his shawl.

* * *

"Okay guys, Aelita has saved us, now it's our turn to return the favor!" yells Jeremie from the South end of the arena, all the trainers giving him his full attention. "We will be training in stations! All swordsmen, and women, of course, go to Ulrich! All hand or fist melee weapon users, go to Yumi! All bowmen, go to Odd! And all knives and dagger users, head to myself! If you don't know where to go, consult any one of us! Now go! I'll only be allowing three hours at the most before we go to get Aelita!"

"FOR AELITA!" everyone yells as they take off to their respectable groups. Ulrich, Yumi, Odd, and Jeremie become overwhelmed as they are crowded with countless fellow soldiers. It seems like all of Eurasia's Army has gone into a state of anarchy: the Queen knows nothing about this whole training arrangement.

* * *

At Ulrich's station, he wears his usual uniform: black tunic and white slacks. His brunette hair is gelled into its usual, shaggy way, the style most of the females in Eurasia's Army fall for.

"Okay, you guys," says Ulrich, walking down the long line of fighters with his arms behind his back, examining each and every one of them with narrowed eyes in the hotness of the blistering battlefield. "Think of sword fighting like a dance...a dangerous one. Always think of the best moves to perform to weaken your opponent. All of these moves will be strung together to form a fluid motion that is made to blow away your audience.. in this case, your opponent. Literally." He stops when he notices one girl in the middle of the line. She has long, flowing black hair swept out of her face with a pink hairband, and deep brown eyes that could catch anyone's attention. She's beautiful. But that wasn't the thing Ulrich's concentrating on. She wears a thin white tank top that is nearly transparent, and she pairs it with outrageously short denim shorts. Ulrich examines her from top and bottom, and says in a serious tone, "Why aren't you in uniform?"

She walks toward him with an almost disturbing gait; she cocks her hip and tries very hard to make her chest prominent. Ulrich steps back in annoyance. She traces with a finger across his chest, causing Ulrich to tense up. She says in a seductive tone, "You don't mind, do you?"

Ulrich raises an eyebrow, clearly at a loss for words. He clears his throat, and brushes her finger almost violently off his chest. All is tense, as everyone else waits for Ulrich's next move. He steps back, narrows his eyes, and says, "I'm not interested."

The girl looks back at him with a hurtful and rejected look as Ulrich continues through clenched teeth, "Go back to your room. And change." He points the way back into the arena, extremely aggravated.

She smiles even more seductively, and seeing that Ulrich remains unmoved, gives up, and leaves to change into more appropriate attire, still in her disturbing gait. "You're unreasonable," she says.

Ulrich clears his throat, and says under his breath, "We've already wasted enough time." He looks up towards the army, and says, "Pair up into groups of two, and spar each other. I will be walking around examining your progress. And remember, only shallow cuts. All injuries are to be taken to the Healing Hand in the weapon shed. Go!"

And with that, the trainees scramble around to follow Ulrich's orders.

* * *

Yumi calmly stands with her hands on her hips as she waited for the arena to be filled up with her trainees, after she gave them a ten minute break. During the session, she couldn't help but notice how experienced they are at fighting. The Queen described them as 'able to defend themselves at the very most,' but to Yumi, that wasn't the case. "_They just needed encouragement, that's all_," she thought to herself, as the arena became nearly filled. She wears her usual elaborate kimono with short sleeves and a yellow sash tied around her waist, her hair clipped into a half up, half down style with the Dragon Barrette. Her black heel boots clack across the brown wooden floor as she paces back and forth, contemplating the next round of lessons.

The vigorous talking around her dies, and she turns back around to face the trainees. To her embarrassment, she finds that the room had been filled for quite a while now. Shaking her head, she opens up her tessen fans and says in an authoritative tone, "Let's do this, guys."

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Meanwhile, Odd weaves through the lines of bowmen as they try their best to look good in front of him. Odd is laughing quietly inside, as he thinks about how ridiculous this whole thing is. He was never a great leader, and never took things seriously, and now here he stands, like a teacher, critiquing all of his students. He feels…out of place.

Odd looks at all of them, pleased, as they rarely missed the target he put out in front of them: a sizeable plank of wood with a barely passable target composed of lazily drawn multiple rings. Almost the entire population of launched arrows on that board is either smack dab in the middle of the target, or in the fair vicinity of it.

Odd claps his hands together, grabbing everyone's attention. "_That never gets old_," he silently thinks to himself. He clears his throat, and says, "Okay guys, I'll give you the next test. It seems like I don't need to help any of you, since you guys practically have everything nailed down. This next test is going to be fun…"

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Jeremie sits in a chair with all of the other leaders of the other associations in Eurasia's Army. He left all of his fighters to do whatever they wanted to do to train themselves, for he thought that using short knives and throwing daggers cannot be more self-explanatory. So he chose that with his free time, he will discuss with the other navigation leaders the mapping plan of the rescue mission.

"Okay, you guys, let's get to business," he says, roaming his eyes around the small group. "Our whole army will split into two. One half goes off with Yumi and Ulrich, the other half goes with Odd and me. My half will go to the France Castle to check for Aelita's presence, while the other half will go to the Russian camp. I will be helping with navigating inside the castle, and by my command, we WILL NOT rest until we have searched every inch of that castle. You understand me?"

The accomplices look at him with trepidation, as they nod their heads rapidly like panting dogs. Jeremie smiles with pleasure, and hastily rolls up the map, as if every second is crucial to Aelita's life. Once he was finished and binds the roll with a latex rubber band, Jeremie continues, "We will be contacting each other via cell phones. I know that there will probably be bad reception on a mountain, but we have no other choice...Alright then. Let's go. I'll call-"

The entire building jerks with a sudden jolt as fine rubble comes sprinkling down onto its occupants. Jeremie and his company crouch down and cover their heads in an impulsive protective reaction. Once everything settled down, Jeremie drops everything in his hands, and quickly walks out of the safety of his room to check what damage had been caused in the arena.

What is before Jeremie gives him the feeling of a dumbbell falling onto his chest. His chest constricts as he stares in utter shock at the thousands of cloaked figures standing in a uniform line before him in front of a large hole in the wall. "_No no no_!" his insides cry out. "_It cannot end like this_!"

He then looks at the weapon shed. It's doors were melted open to reveal a hole leading inside. Another dumbbell fell on his chest. The Sword of Schaeffer. The Elemental Bender. Gone. "_Thank God I packed the Healing Hand inside the first-aid kit beforehand," _Jeremie thinks to himself.

Immediately, about a hundred of them advance in one large stride towards Jeremie. Two of them grab his arms, and pull him into the sudden darkness of the entities surrounding him. Jeremie screams for help.

Ulrich just noticed the sudden disturbance in the architecture of the building, and so did Yumi and Odd. The three exit the battlefield, and find their leader being pulled into the large pool of shrouded figures. Ulrich was just going to reach Jeremie when Yumi gently placed her left hand on his chest.

"Stop it Ulrich, we have to-"

"We have to help him right now!" yells Ulrich, rudely cutting of Yumi.

Yumi shakes her head, takes a deep breath, and says, "There's no use fighting, we can't do anything about it. He can fend for himself...for the time being. If we get at them, they will capture us too. What we need to do now is this." Yumi pulls out The Guardian's Ring from inside her yellow sash, and continues, "I will use it to cast a force field dividing us from the enemies, and as they try to get through, we will leave, along with the rest of the army to go and find Aelita, okay?"

"Okay then, but hurry!"

Yumi smiles at him, and yells, "The Guardian's Ring!" She closes her eyes, and imagines a transparent blue force field cutting across the arena separating them from the line of enemies. A blue light erupts from it, and bursts all across the length of the arena, separating the two adversaries. The shrouded figures look at them with still expressionless faces, and they come charging at them with their swords. Yumi, Ulrich, and Odd smile as they slice helplessly at the force field, bouncing off at every blow.

Their trainees just arrived, and Yumi clumsily unclips the Barrette from her jet black hair, wincing as its teeth forcefully grasps onto her hair. She launches it up into the air, and says, "Dragon Teleportation," to command it to work. After it does its thing and a red and black void appears, Yumi turns around to face the rest of their army.

"Okay, guys!" she yells over the useless grunting and whining of the henchmen sent by Dominik. "We will be splitting up into two groups: One group will be led by Ulrich at the France Castle, the other will be led by Odd and me on the Sayan Mountains! Trainees who were with Jeremie, go with Ulrich! Think about where you want to go, and step into the void! If you fool around and go somewhere else besides these two locations, I_ swear_ that we will not be coming back to get you! Good luck everyone, and stay safe. Now, everyone, get into the void, and don't take your time!"

Obeying Yumi's command, the thousands of soldiers all barge into the large void, not bothering to go in a single file, as the void expands to let more people in.

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**Author's Note: So the mission begins...wow, aren't you excited? I'm excited. Review please! They are highly appreciated! I love to read what you guys think. (: Oh, and I'll try put up another update some time today; this chapter is kinda short..**


	15. Torture

**Hey guys! Quick update! :)**

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Chapter 14: Torture

Aelita enters a state of deja vu as her wrists and ankles are bound with rope securely attached to the sides of the tent. She is pulled to the floor on her knees and her arms pulled outwards, giving the icy shards of air the opportunity to freely eat away the body heat of her skin. Her lip quivering with the rest of her body, Aelita starts to lose consciousness, her breathing becoming slow and shallow. She could feel the effects of hypothermia taking place, but she didn't care. She does not want to be stabbed again. She wants to die now.

Her head drooping and consciousness merely slipping away, one of Dominik's men enter the tent, causing Aelita to widen her eyes in fear. He pulls down his hood, revealing a face Aelita knew too well. She could've been shot in the heart, and she wouldn't have noticed.

She screams.

What stands before her is the animate corpse of Francis Schaeffer, her dead father. Dried blood trails down the corners of his mouth, reaching his chin and fading down his neck. A large slit in his neck has dried blood pooling around it, the major remnant of his death. His skin takes the hue of a sickly pale gray, giving it an almost transparent look. Milky, beady black eyes take place of his alive, bright green eyes, the same as Aelita's. Tears start to flow down her face at full speed, and her lips purse together in a straight, thin line. Through the blurriness of her eyes from the tears, Aelita looks straight at him and yells over her own whimpers, "YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD!" She shakes her head violently, as if this whole thing is a dream. She tries to clear her mind and focus on reality, but this is reality. Nothing she could do would make this nightmare go away. She screams again with her head hung, and says, "You're not really here.. You're not really here..." She chokes on her own tears, and tries desperately to break free from the rope binds so she can run as far away as she could away from here.

Francis smirks as Aelita enters a state of insanity, choosing now to advance towards her. Much against his caring personality towards his daughter while he was alive, Francis pulls out a small dagger from a loose pocket in his cloak, and takes his time licking each side, giving it a fresh coat of gleam and intimidating Aelita all the while.

Francis tilts Aelita's chin up to get a better look of her tear stained face, and she cautiously glances to the side away from his line of vision. Aelita shivers as his icy breath comes in contact with her skin, probably one of the side effects of being dead instead of the coldness of the snow around them. Aelita closes her eyes shut, tears still streaming down her face, and concentrates on the one person she cared about most, trying her best to grip onto the happiness of life he tried so hard to teach her about. She remembers the comfort of his fingers intertwined with hers, the warmth of his smiles. His brave effort to keep her safe... His long bright blonde hair falling over his eyes, his outrageously angular face. More tears start to flow down her face when she thought about her betrayal, when she left him. After all he done for her.

She loves him.

Abruptly opening her eyes after those few seconds of thought, she finds a surge of strength, a strength she never ever felt before. With it, she finds the effort to fight the million depressing emotions flowing right through her mind this second, and looks back at her dead father with a stoic face. Showing weakness will never do her any good.

Francis gives a threatening growl, and starts doing his thing, following the King's orders. As if on cue, the one and only Dominik Diederich enters the tent, his black velvety shawl flowing behind him from the powerful gusts of wind revealing his tall and lanky figure. He takes a seat on the floor of the tent, taking the pose of one leg extended and the other bent, one arm resting on the bent leg. Cold, cold handsomeness powerfully radiates from him, sending a chilling feeling towards Aelita as she painfully watches his relaxed pose. Dominik winks at her after a few seconds of silence, sending more paralyzing chills down Aelita's spine. The King gives her an icy laugh, and she blinks as the devastation hits her.

Dominik waves his hand, the most powerful gesture ever known, igniting the start of Aelita's torture session.

Francis nods, and takes a first stab at Aelita's left upper arm. It came out on the other side, and Aelita screams, looking away from it in horror. She closes her eyes, only hearing Dominik's sick laughter, as if he is taking amusement out of watching her suffer. Her dead father turns the blade three hundred sixty degrees, and Aelita opens her mouth as widely as she could, shutting her eyes tightly in pain. The squish of flesh is music to Dominik's ears. Francis forcefully rides the dagger out of her wound, blood splashing all over the tent's floor. The dagger still dripping madly with blood, he does the same gesture again, forcefully piercing it into her left shoulder. Aelita could feel the vibration throughout her arm as the blade of the knife hits her bone, and a feeling of horror tingles throughout her whole body. Aelita felt timorous in front of King Dominik as she screamed right in front of him, tears streaming down her face.

Francis gives Aelita the same treatment to her right arm, and all that floods her ears is her screaming and Dominik's laughter and the squish of flesh in the background. Aelita realizes that these wounds will never heal properly.

Next, Francis cleans the dagger by running it through his black cloak. Aelita sighs in relief as he did this, because it usually signals finishing. But he was just getting started. All the blood now absent from the small dagger, Francis makes a shallow slice circumventing her torso, and blood starts to seep through her lacy white dress, the one she wore during her time in Spain. It seemed like a million years since it happened, but it was really only just a few hours before. Aelita winces as he took his time making the cut around her torso, and she repeatedly yells, "Hurry up! Make it quick! Please! The pain is unbearable!"

During this whole session, Aelita's temperament was extremely volatile. One minute she's calm, the next minute she's screaming from the pain excreting from her still coming wounds.

After a few minutes of endless cutting and stabbing, Aelita's hair became clogged with blood and her white lacy dress became soaked with red, like someone poured a whole bucket of red dye on it. All bare skin became crowded with wounds, cuts scattered all over her skin. She just stopped screaming, her throat too raw to do it, and now tears start to roll down her face.

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**Author's Note: Review please?**


	16. Dominik vs Eurasia

**Hey guys! Here's another chapter. I really like this one. So sit back, relax, and enjoy! Happy Reading! :) Oh, and Merry Christmas!**

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Chapter 15: Dominik vs. Eurasia

A blindfold is wrapped around Jeremie's eyes, causing blackness to engulf him. He stopped trying to squirm out of the enemies' grasps hours ago. Now he doesn't know where he is.

An opening of doors and a few thousand steps later, Jeremie's blindfold is ripped off, and he pales as the familiar walls of the dimly lit corridor come to his vision. He figures that he is in Aelita's castle now, in the lowest floor with all the black rooms and prison cells. Now Jeremie really knows that something bad is going to come to him.

The two cloaked figures restraining his arms open a wooden door, and forcefully kick him right in, causing him to stumble onto the black room's floor. He holds out his arms for support as he hit the ground. A foul smell streams through into his nose, but he couldn't seem to place his finger on it. It smells like...rotting flesh.

Jeremie widens his eyes, and screams. "_We're too late_," he cries out from the inside. "_Aelita_!"

Tears start to slowly flow down his face, and he repeatedly sends curses to Dominik, yelling into the air at the highest volume he could. He slams his fist hard onto the ground, and takes deep breaths, trying to calm himself down, but he only became more mad and jittery.

Jeremie suddenly becomes more claustrophobic as he looks around him, the black walls seeming to be caving in on him. He feels like he's floating in mid air; he could not tell the difference between the walls and the floor. He couldn't even find the door. He rests his head in between his knees, shuts his eyes, and takes deep breaths, quietly crying. This room is practically driving him insane. Jeremie didn't dare move and raise the risk of having his head flood with dizziness.

Jeremie's mind drifts as he closes his eyes, and they couldn't help but settle on a pink, elfish face... He remembers her naiveness, making her all the more interesting. He remembers how easy it was to talk to her, how much they had in common. He remembers how she cares about his problems, and listens intently to him, trying her best to help him. And he lastly remembers her gentleness, and her delicate soft features, making her look so beautiful. Jeremie smiles to himself.

* * *

Yumi and Odd fall out of the void onto a thin blanket of snow on the Sayan Mountains. They immediately jerk back, as the extreme cold of the snow rush through their fingers, causing them to go numb only temporarily. Behind them, they could see their whole army. Their bodies are decked in layers of clothing, from jackets and sweaters to scarves and mittens. They were already prepared before the departure, for they knew that they were probably going to a below-freezing mountain range. Odd and Yumi take some time to observe their surroundings, both hearing the battle cries of fighting in the distance. Yumi points in the direction to the east.

"There," she points out. "I can see them and the tents."

Odd motions his right hand like he was going to salute to Yumi, and poses like a spectator looking out into the distance. "Aye, I see it," he says.

Yumi turns around towards their teammates, and says, "Let's go guys, and try not to make so much noise."

All ten thousand of them nod in unison, and they slowly creep up towards the fierce battle behind Odd and Yumi.

There is a whole division of rocks just next to the multiple lines of tents, and the warriors hide behind them in small groups. Odd and Yumi share a rock as they scout the activities surrounding them.

Just then, a large Zweihander is pointed at their faces, and Yumi and Odd inch back repulsively. They are pinned to the ground with the sword pointed right at their necks. Both pairs of eyes widen as they look up to see a dark man with a chiseled face and hollow eye sockets. Dark shadows are right below his blue eyes, and a large crown is seen sitting on top of his head of flat blonde hair. He is wearing a black tunic and black trousers, all wrapped in a black velvet shawl. He has an evil smirk on his face, and Odd and Yumi just glare back.

"Dominik," snarls Odd.

"Aren't we smart now?" asks Dominik. "And yes, I am the one and only."

"You're a killer," says Yumi aggressively. "How the hell do you sleep at night?"

"Easy. But forget about that, now the only thing I am interested in is killing you two."

In a fluid motion, Dominik raises the sword, ready to plunge the large blade into both necks at the same time. When he abruptly dives the sword into the ground, Yumi and Odd roll out of the way in opposite directions, and quickly stand. The rest of the warriors follow suit, and Dominik looks at them with intrepidness. He keeps a straight face, and pulls out the Slaughtering Hand of Schaeffer from his shawl, and Yumi and Odd gasp in shock. The others just look at him with pure confusion.

"Ten thousand against one? I don't think so," says Dominik. He also takes out an old human skull and raises it into the sky, causing a whole army of the dead to rise up from the ground. Eurasia's Army inches back and stumble as the ground shook.

"Yumi, what's so important about this golden glove?" asks Sissi Delmas once everything settled.

Yumi looks at her from the corner of her eye and glares. "It's the Slaughtering Hand of Schaeffer," says Yumi. "It's one of the nine, and with this one, you can inflict wounds on someone without having to touch them. Stay your ground, everyone, we don't know who he is going to use it on!"

Her face pales, and she steps back away from Yumi with her head hung.

"Someone's been studying," says Dominik, grinning playfully.

Dominik waves his hand through the air, and Yumi screams in pain. She falls to her knees and grasps her left upper arm, blood quickly soaking through her white glove.

"Yumi!" yells Odd, bending down to be level with his close companion. Seeing Yumi's face wretched in pain, he glares at the dead army, and draws an arrow from his quiver.

"No, Odd, stop," commands Yumi, and he lowers his bow. "If we start a fight, his whole dead army will fight against us, and a lot of us could probably die." She clumsily stands up, her jaw tightly clenched.

The atmosphere becomes extremely tense as all gave piercing stares at Dominik, waiting for his next move. Everyone silently prays to themselves to not be the next victim behind the masks of their stoic faces. Yumi and Odd look around at their army in annoyance, probably being able to tell what they were thinking.

Dominik roams his eyes around the large army opposing him, his own standing by his side. He grins maniacally in pleasure. Slowly, he waves his hand again as everyone around him collected breaths of fear. From behind, a girl screams, as she watches her arm getting cut right off and tumble to the ground, leaving a thick stripe of blood behind it. All the other warriors around her scream, masking the great relief that it wasn't one of them as Odd widens his eyes. Yumi's already porcelain face pales, as if it was even possible, and she looks at Dominik with a piercing hard look. She points to the screaming girl, and says, "That's not supposed to happen! The glove is only supposed to cause short, deep gashes, not chop a whole right arm off!"

"Thou need to read more," says Dominik with calmness. "Every ten thousand swipes, the glove somehow malfunctions and causes a sickly wound to whoever the victim is."

"Then why did you choose her? You could've done in on me or Odd."

"I didn't know it was the ten thousandth swipe, I don't count," says Dominik. "Thou are lucky."

The girl starts to grasp her head from the searing pain of the headache settling in from the severe blood loss. She starts to stumble with her arm still dripping madly as Yumi and Odd look at her helplessly. Black dots start to impair her vision. Giving the two leaders a pleading stare, she falls over flat on her face. Blood from where her arm was starts to heavily stain the pure white of the snow.

"I-is she dead?" asks a boy timidly, standing a few feet from Yumi's right.

Yumi shakes her head in despair. "No, not yet. She lost enough blood to lose consciousness, but not enough to die. In a few hours, it looks like she will, so I don't think we'll save her."

The boy nods, showing no change in his facial expressions. Yumi smiles on the inside at his calm response. It was one of the things Ulrich taught her from his imaginary list of lessons; lesson three: do not show weakness in front of the enemy.

"Look," says Yumi, giving Dominik an expressionless look. She steps toward him with her fists clenched. "We're not here to fight. We just want Aelita back. Now, you can quietly pass her to us, or you can give her to us the hard way."

Dominik gives the all-too familiar smirk. "Might I ask what the hard way is?"

"We'll fight you if you refuse."

He publicly laughs, sending distinguishing chills down everyone's spines. "What in the world makes thou think thy army of teenage pests is going to defeat me?"

"We've been training."

"So have mine," he says nonchalantly. "But I choose to give up Aelita the 'hard' way." Dominik uses both of his index fingers to put noticeable quotes around the word hard.

Odd gives Yumi a piercing look. Yumi immediately recognizes the signal. "_Plan B?_"

Yumi nods, and prays to herself.

* * *

Ulrich falls out of the void onto the plush blanket of grass just outside of Aelita's castle. He looks behind him to find his large army of ten thousand soldiers. Seeing all of them accounted for, he says, "Five hundred of you are coming with me. We'll be checking the basement first. Like Jeremie said, we are not going to rest until we have searched every part of the castle. Understand? The rest will stay outside guarding the doors."

They all nod towards their leading commandant, and start their way down the long stone path leading to the castle's double doors.

Once they reached the dimly lit corridor of the basement, everyone turns on their flashlights. The lights slowly fill up the whole room, and Ulrich examines the whole hall from left to right. He doesn't find anything unusual. No screaming. No laughing. Nothing.

Still undefeated, Ulrich starts his whole system of trial and error, slicing into every door and using his flashlight to light up the endless darkness of each room.

Reaching the third door on the right, he sees two bodies: Jeremie crippled on the floor, and an unrecognizable carcass. Ulrich immediately comes to Jeremie's aid, and says, "You okay?"

Jeremie slowly raises his head. Seeing one of his best friends, he immediately perks up, and says, "Ae-Aelita!" he points to the dead carcass, not daring to look at it. "Sh-she's dead!"

Ulrich looks at his friend in horror as Jeremie buries his face into his hands, crying. He looks like a shipwreck. There are dark circles under Jeremie's eyes, and his face and hands are streaked with blood. Ulrich hesitantly looks at the carcass with a furrowed brow, and says, "This isn't Aelita, good buddy."

Jeremie slowly raises his head again. "What?"

"Look at the body. First of all, it's a guy, and second, he looks nothing like Aelita."

Jeremie breaks into another sob, but this time of relief. He has no idea what to be thinking right now. Why did Dominik throw him in here? Psychological torture, perhaps? Then, a pang of realization hits him. He looks at Ulrich with a serious face, and says, "Has it been strangely quiet since you came in here?"

Ulrich nods. "Yeah."

Jeremie snaps his fingers. "I think I know where she is. If all of the cloaked figures aren't here, that means they are all too busy in Russia. Guarding Aelita."

Ulrich's face lights up. "Let's go then. Yumi and Odd are bound to need our help."

* * *

Once Odd withdrew his arrow and yelled the battle cry, Eurasia's Army and Dominik's Army engaged into head to head combat. Yumi bolts away from the whole flurry of battle, and sprints to the multiple lines of tents as Odd aims one of his arrows at Dominik. But Dominik uses the Cloak of Visibility and Sound on himself, and disappears right when Odd releases the arrow. The arrow soars right through where Dominik just was, and instead hits a cloaked figure. "Dammit!" yells Odd.

About a thousand of Eurasia's army follow Yumi, being taught the plan during their training sessions. What stands before them is a whole swarm of cloaked figures blocking their path to the numerous tents. They engage into battle as well, just not as large scaled as the battle they just left. Blood spews everywhere, along with gray dust. Using her teammates as a diversion, Yumi slowly snakes through the crowd, intensely focusing her eyes on the tents.

Meanwhile, Sissi fights furiously for her freedom. She grasps her sword with both hands with a steady grip, making a big stunt to show the expression 'come at me.' One of the enemies flash behind her, but with her peripheral vision, Sissi is able to see him coming. She smiles, and with one swift motion, turns around and pierces the blade right through its abdomen. As Sissi watches with wonder as it disappears into gray dust, another comes towards her too soon. It grazes her side with it's sword as it runs past, and she winces at the sudden flare of pain. Irritated at their pestiness, she rashly hurls the sword in its direction. It manages to slice through three enemies, including the one that wounded her, and Sissi's insides scream with excitement. Quickly, she advances towards her fallen sword and retrieves it.

William Dunbar, another fighter, grips his bow with comfort. He hides behind one of the multiple rocks they were previously fighting in, and aims at any enemy. Cloaked figures seem to fall defeated at random, leaving whoever was fighting it in hand to hand combat in a state of confusion. One Russian girl was clever enough to look in the direction the arrow came from, and raises an eyebrow at William with a hand on her hip. William only winks back with a grin, and she blushes with surprise. Odd and the other bowmen follow suit, making the process of killing enemies more time efficient.

Meanwhile, Yumi manages to make her way out of the gruesome mess. Staring at the hundreds of tents before her, an overwhelming feeling overcomes the Japanese geisha. Roaming her dark brown almond-shaped eyes around the wide expanse of white land dotted with the orange colored tents, she curses at Dominik for his slyness. Of course he chose all of the tents to look similar just so that when someone like Eurasia's Army tries to intrude, they would be baffled by the carbon copies of each other.

Yumi can't just look through all of them herself. But she needed to make the decision fast. "_What do I do?_" she asks herself.

She jumps at the chirp of her mobile, and her heart flutters for a split second at the sight of a certain guy's name on the caller's ID. "_Just in time_," she thinks to herself. She flips open her phone, and answers, "Hello?"

"Yumi?" says Ulrich. She smiles at the sound of his voice. "Aelita isn't here, so that means she's with you guys on the mountain... Oh and we got Jeremie. How's it going on your side? You find her yet?" He pauses. "It sounds like hell out there."

"We haven't found her yet," says Yumi. "The problem is, she is in one of the many hundreds of identical tents out here. I need some of your soldiers."

"We'd love to," answers Ulrich. "But uh..."

"You need the barrette," Yumi guesses.

"Right." Yumi could hear the smile in his voice.

"I'll be right over."

Yumi shuts her phone and looks back at the two large scale battles: The one going on between Dominik's alive army and Russia's army, and the other between Eurasia's Army and Dominik's Dead Army. She frowns at the thought of having to leave them here. To her relief, Odd isn't hurt. He's hiding behind a large sculpted rock shooting arrows at random enemies.

Wasting no more time, Yumi throws the Dragon's Barrette into the air. Just when she was about to throw herself in, a cloaked figure was witty enough to notice her absence from the fight, and grasps her leg right above her ankle boots. This causes Yumi to tumble violently back onto the now thick blanket of snow, and land painfully on right leg, causing her hip to jerk. She grasps the area right between her thigh and the bottom of her pelvic bone in pain, squeezing her eyes shut.

Looking above her, she sees the foe looking back at her with no expression. She pounces right back up, wincing noticeably. The void has closed now, after a prolonged time of no enterer, and the barrette lies helplessly on the floor.

The two look at each other in utter silence. The cloaked figure keeps his eyes glazed on Yumi, as if daring her to turn around and pick up her lost object. Yumi silently refuses the offer.

Slightly intimidated by Yumi staring down at him, the foe is the first to cave in. It growls fiercely, and drops its sword, causing Yumi to become off guard for a second. She stares at the sword in disbelief, as he lands a kick in her torso, knocking the wind out of her and sending her falling backwards towards the ground.

Laying on the floor and barely affected, Yumi smiles and spreads her right arm across the snow. Her fingers meet with the cold and rough feeling of the golden barrette, and she quickly grasps it, the teeth digging into the palm of her hand. She turns to the right quickly after, when the cloaked figure tried to plunge the sword into her while she stayed sprawled on the ground.

Yumi jumps up again, the pain in her pelvis barely noticeable anymore from the adrenaline from the fight, and takes out her closed tessen fans from inside the ribbon of her sash. Yumi opens them up and the sun immediately sheds blinding light onto the reflective iron. She aims the light in the cloaked figure's face, blinding it for a second. As it rubs its eyes helplessly, Yumi launches both of her fans in its direction. They get caught in the enemy's chest, and it disappears with a _poof_! of gray dust, leaving the fans to land silently onto the thick blanket of snow.

As Yumi quietly celebrates her victory, a massive explosion can be seen from the war between Russia and Dominik, catching her full attention.

And that's when she finds a whole flurry of snow barreling down towards them.

* * *

**Author's Note: You like? Please let me know. I worked really hard on this chapter, so please review! You have no idea what I have in store for you guys next. (:**


	17. Avalanche

**Really really short chapter, guys, this is just a quick update. (:**

* * *

Chapter 16: Avalanche

It started with a small disturbance in the ground caused by tiny cracks in the icy snow. Dominik just summoned more of his dead army from the ground, watching from his own sanctuary on top of a low sloping hill. Aelita fell unconscious about an hour ago, and he doesn't find the same pleasure in torturing her while she isn't able to scream or moan in pain.

But that summoning of more of the dead was a big mistake. It caused large breaks in the ground, and the snow starts to loosen from the top of the mountain. As the zombie-like humanoids march down from their place of 'rebirth,' snow starts to crumble in small groups. Dominik didn't worry much at first, but when he noticed that the snow was falling at a much faster rate, it was already too late. An enormous chunk of snow broke off from the mountain's peak, and started to fall right towards the battle of Russia.

Odd points in the direction of the tumbling snow, and yells, "Avalanche!"

Everyone starts to scream and scramble, the cloaked figures panicking in silence. Both sides start to scamper furiously all around as the beings in the vicinity of the falling snow become buried in its thick wake. This causes instant death to the victim, who soon will become suffocated beneath the blanket.

The avalanche buries the whole battle of the Russians, and it practically growls at its next victim: Eurasia's Army and Dominik's dead army. The tents and Dominik are out of harm's way, whereas the other areas of battle are smack dab in the avalanche's path. Yumi furiously runs from the safety of the tents towards Odd's battle, and quickly throws the barrette into the air.

"All of Eurasia's Army, jump in!" she yells. "Imagine going to Aelita's castle!"

They obey, but unfortunately so does the dead army. They follow Eurasia's Army into the red and black void, Eurasia's Army not bothering to try to get them out.

Aelita still lays unconscious from the torture.

* * *

They all land practically on top of each other on the plush of grass. Ulrich and Jeremie are seen at the entrance, along with their large army. Eurasia's Army's numbers are now double Dominik's Army's, and they all notice it in pure joy, whereas the cloaked figures look around at the warriors around them.

Both sides take fighting stances, and they engage in battle once again.

* * *

**Author's Note: I promise guys, the next chapter will make up for this really short chapter. I'm sad to say this story is almost completed.. But I hope you enjoy the ending. Review please?**


	18. I Challenge You

**Hey guys! I really really like this chapter, because it all leads up to a new predicament. (: I hope you enjoy this one. So sit back, relax, and enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 17: I Challenge You

No doubt Eurasia's Army won. They had twice the number of warriors; most of Dominik's army had been previously buried in snow, making the fight an easy win. Eurasia's Army still lost a lot of soldiers though, roughly ten thousand. The army was reluctant to leave the grass covered with shallow frost, along with the numerous amount of blood soaked bodies behind.

Eurasia's Army uses the Dragon's Barrette to make it back to the Sayan Mountains. Most of them have shallow gashes as wounds, including Jeremie, Yumi, Odd, and Ulrich. Dominik stares at them with a face concealing laughter, and he is too immersed in their appearance of near defeat to notice that Jeremie and a few hundred soldiers had snuck away to find Aelita. Their plan is simple: to stall Dominik with his endless sea of arrogance as Jeremie finds Aelita. Objective: to keep Dominik from summoning more of his dead army.

"Well, well, well," boasts Dominik after a few minutes of tense silence. "What hast we here? Come back for another round of fighting?"

"Can't you see?" says Yumi weakly, tightly clenching her stomach. "We-we're too weak to fight!"

Dominik grins. "Then why are ye all here?"

"We... came here to surrender," says Ulrich, averting his eyes to the ground. The others mumble in agreement.

Dominik's grin disappears, noticing that something is out of place here. "Ye all must be jesting with me," he says, causing all of the army to noticeably freeze in fear. He notices their sudden change in emotion. "I thought so."

"A-absolutely not-"

"I bid you to close your mouth. Thy non-renaissance language already disgusts me." He takes out The Death's Skull, and Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi widen their eyes in fear, and their skin dramatically pales.

* * *

Jeremie widens his eyes in horror when he saw Aelita laying on the floor, the rest of the soldiers crowded behind him. Her dress clings to her thin body, soaked with the dark crimson color of blood, and her hair is matted to her head. Her face is ruined with cuts and bruises, and is also heavily tear-stained. He also sees her bones in places where they are not supposed to be, and Jeremie cringes, as a few of Eurasia's Army try hard to keep back tears from seeing their heroine in such terrible shape.

He quickly takes out the first aid kit Ulrich gave him during his rescue mission. Deep down inside it, he finds the minute Healing Hand of Schaeffer, and quickly slips it on. _"Please let Aelita still be alive,"_ he thinks to himself. _"Please._"

"Healing Hand of Schaeffer," he quietly whispers. "Please."

A bright white light emits from the glove, and envelopes Aelita, bringing her to a standing position as if she were a lost soul and the light acted as the angel that led it. It treated her with a gentle, kind warmth as it causes her lacy dress to puff up and twirl around her. It brings out the natural beauty of her, and Jeremie hastily stands up, watching her with admiration.

A grin spreads across his face as the light literally sucks up all the blood, causing all of the blooms of crimson on her dress to disappear. Aelita's eyes still shut, her hair mildly floats around her face, but never covering it.

As the light faded away, Aelita slowly raises her eyelids, revealing the emerald green Jeremie loved ever since he met her. Aelita smiles with surprise when she sees Jeremie smiling at her, as if this was all just a dream.

Aelita's smile fades, and she immediately bolts towards Jeremie, wrapping her arms around his torso and breaking into another sob. Jeremie stands there dumbfounded for a second, but ends up returning the hug, resting his chin on top of Aelita's head. He feels the front of his shirt starting to get wet, and finds Aelita with fresh tears heavily streaming down her face. She uncoils her arms from Jeremie's waist, but beckons him not to stop holding her as she took in the contours of his face, running her fingers along his jawline, his cheekbones. Then his bifocals, nose, and lips. She cries even more, finding that this wasn't just a dream. That she is alive, and that Jeremie is here, right when she needed him most.

Jeremie rubs soothing circles around her back, and Aelita mumbles quietly into his shirt, "Is everything over? Is Dominik rid of?"

Jeremie frowns, and Aelita's heart sinks. "I'm sorry, Aelita, but no," he answers. "But we can kill him now for sure, if we're quick enough."

"You have no idea what he _did_ to me, Jeremie!" yells Aelita, endlessly hiccuping. "I saw my father; he was alive, but _dead_. Dominik _used_ him! He shouldn't be condoning himself to do this! It's so _inhumane_, I _swear!_"

Jeremie tries to console her, rubbing the small of her back tenderly. But all of the events come crashing down on him, sucking him out of the moment. "Aelita, we have to go. Right now." He hands a few daggers to Aelita. "Help us defeat him."

Aelita stares at the daggers in disbelief. She then looks at Eurasia's Army, all of them wearing the same pleading looks on their faces. She rubs at her eyes and nods with newly found determination. "I think I know what to do, Jeremie."

* * *

Meanwhile, Dominik is tackled by the whole lot of teenagers, right after Odd shot the skull out of his hands with great precision. Using the Cloak of Visibility and Sound, the tyrannical King disappears, and everyone screams in helplessness. The skull hovers in midair for a second, but becomes invisible as well; Dominik now has possession of it. He then unveils himself and calls the name of the Item of Schaeffer, causing it to burst with energy and repel everyone away from him. The ground starts to rumble, causing their hearts to rip into two.

Thousands more dead corpses rise up from the ground, radiating an invisible coldness from them. They stand in a uniform line, right behind Dominik, opposite from Eurasia's Army, standing attentive for orders.

Dominik turns around to face his army, and commands, "Ye all know what to do. Crush these spunky, good for nothing, kids."

Odd, Yumi, and Ulrich stay their ground, and they nod in unison. At that signal, Eurasia's Army takes battle stance.

A few minutes elapse, as the wind blows aimlessly, rustling hair, and chilling up skin. Both sides look at one another with piercing stares.

"DOMINIK!" yells a gentle, yet firm voice.

Dominik's feet stay planted on the blanket of snow as he waits for the speaker to advance forward. An open aisle forms, as Eurasia's Army clear out the center of their crowd. Proceeds is Aelita Schaeffer, in a new set of insulated clothing, Jeremie following close behind her. A stern face is engraved in her delicate, elf like features, giving her a look of intrepidness.

"My, my, what have we got here?" asks Dominik with a false look of surprise. He then relaxes his face, and says, "Saved. _Again_. Aelita, dear, it's time for you to defend yourself for once. Don't thou ever feel that you're too dependent on others?"

Aelita nods, and says, "I do. Which is why I'm doing everyone a favor. I, Aelita Schaeffer, challenge thee, Dominik Diederich, _for the crown."_

* * *

**Author's Note: Didn't see that coming, huh? LOL. I am so excited to to write the next chapter and see how it comes out! Review please! :)**

**Now there's one last question.. no, kinda like two: What will the challenge be, and will Aelita succeed in beating Dominik once and for all?**


	19. How Dare You

**Hey guys! Wow, I am so excited for you guys to read this! I hope you will really enjoy it. I worked really hard on this chapter... It took me really long to think about how this all goes down. So sit back, relax, and enjoy! Happy reading! Thanks so much for all the great reviews!**

* * *

Chapter 18: How _Dare_ You

Gasps erupt from Eurasia's army as they start to chatter amongst themselves. Will she win? What does she have in mind?

"Aelita-!"

The Princess holds her hand out towards Jeremie's direction, signaling him to stop. "Dominik," she says, "The first person to execute the other wins the crown to all of Europe, and all of Asia, which is still in your possession."

Dominik seemed a little thrown off by Aelita's abrupt change in personality, but he didn't show any signs of fear. "Isn't that a little grotesque for thy taste?" he asks out of curiosity.

She shakes her head. "Actually," answers Aelita with great authority, "it seems like we have no other choice. I must say that you are too deceitful. If _I_ win, but you don't die, I _know_ that you will find a way to escape, summon up more of the dead with the Item of Schaeffer, and try to overthrow me. And don't you like that idea? Not only will you win over all of Eurasia by killing _me_, but you will also conquer everything else you have been working on since day one."

"Very clever." Dominik walks toward Aelita, holding out his hand. "Okay," he says simply in a calm, chilling tone. "I accept."

Aelita was about to shake with him, but then pulls away just when their hands were about to meet. "Wait," she says, narrowing her eyes. "What form of weapon are you planning to use?"

Dominik withdraws his hand also, and says, "I'm glad you asked." He pulls out a sword from the scabbard attached to his belt, the _swiiishhh _sound sending distinguishing chills down everyone's spines.

It's blue hilt checkered with white gave away it's name. Jeremie, Odd, Yumi, and Ulrich gasp. "The Sword of Schaeffer," whispers Jeremie.

The genius then walks up to Aelita, placing his hand on her tense shoulder. He then whispers quietly into her ear, almost in a pleading tone, "Are you _sure_ about this, Aelita?"

Aelita nods slowly, then says to him, "I'm tired of running away." She then pulls out a large quantity of pink daggers, the ones Jeremie just passed to her. "I will use these, Dominik. Is that fair enough?"

The King gives off a devilish smile. "Perfect," he snarls.

Aelita takes a deep, calming breath, and shakes hands with Dominik. "_His hands are so cold, it's almost inhuman_," she thinks to herself.

"Ready?" asks Aelita.

"Let's go," Dominik answers with a smile.

* * *

Dominik and Aelita's match is set up on a wide expanse of level snow just at the foot of a mountain. The wind blows violently as they stand fifty feet across from each other, Dominik with his hands clasped behind his back, and Aelita with her hands wrapped around her daggers so tight that her knuckles turn white. She stares at Dominik with a stoic face at the verge of breaking, and her hands are shaking the slightest, while Dominik gazes back at Aelita with an expressionless face, giving off a nonchalant vibe.

Jeremie, Odd, Yumi, and Ulrich could notice Aelita's slight anxiety, and their hearts break. Yumi cries silently on Ulrich's hard shoulder, while Odd consolingly pats her back, trying to calm her down. Jeremie quickly looks away and takes off his glasses, to rub his eyes in despair. They knew it, and everyone knew it. Aelita, with barely any fighting experience is going up against Dominik, who probably has who knows how much skill. Most likely a lot.

France, the one of the two standing countries _left_ of Eurasia, is in Aelita's hands. They can't afford to lose this.

Odd withdraws his bow and positions the arrow he took from the quiver. He pulls the arrow back until the string is taut, and aims at the very peak of one of the many mountains in the mountain range. He releases, and watches as the arrow soars through the clear skies, getting caught in the mountain peak and sending some rocks down towards the base. The signal has been released. The duel has begun.

* * *

Everyone expected an abrupt dive into battle but surprisingly, Aelita and Dominik stand their ground. A grin slowly grows on the King's face as they stare each other down; he silently dares Aelita to go first. She only narrows her eyes.

"F_igure out his pattern, and dissect it to find his mistakes and weaknesses,_" Aelita contemplates in her mind with a rush of adrenaline. She could just feel her brain violently pounding against her skull, and her heart nearly jumping out of her chest. Cold sweat moistens her underarms, along with her face and palms.

Nothing happens for a few minutes as the people in the sidelines barely stir.

Away from the battle, Eurasia's Army stands opposite from Dominik's Army. E.A at the right of the pair, D.A at the left. The great space in between Dominik and Aelita is the great dividing line separating the two groups, one all dark and gloomy with their identical dark cloaks, the other all bright and colorful with their assorted winter gear.

Aelita starts to cave in as she gets even more taunted by Dominik's smug and calm stare. It seems like he's not worried or scared at all. Like he doesn't _care._

Very reluctantly, Aelita is the first to move. She abruptly spins, to gather force, and launches a dagger in Dominik's direction once she faces him again.

Dominik keeps an expressionless face as the dagger slices through the air towards him. He simply steps to the left as he withdraws his own weapon, leaving the dagger to soar even further towards nothing. "You're going to have to do better than that, Miss Aelita," he snarls as he charges up the sword. "Sword of Schaeffer!"

The bright wave of iridescent energy catapults from the sword, and Aelita watches in daze as it comes closer and closer towards her. She doesn't move a muscle, still in shock from his simple dodge, because that was when she noticed the full weight of the situation. How _is _she going to beat Dominik? She can't lose this. Bombarded with the millions of thoughts trying to overcome each other in Aelita's mind, she freezes up.

"AELITA!" Jeremie yells.

'_Wave of energy released by the sword will slice through anything, and it is deadly.' Deadly_. That seemed to pull her out of her serious contemplation. She quickly turns her head towards Jeremie, noting his frightened look, and then back at Dominik, who has an evil smirk upon his face. The white light seemed to appear out of nowhere.

Aelita bolts towards it, closing the gap in between her and Dominik, and ducks as the light was just about to impact with her chest, the snow sprinkling around her calves. Then she launches two more daggers at Dominik, and he deflects them with his sword in response, sending them back in Aelita's direction.

Aelita catches both daggers by the handle and slowly gets up. She then screams, and then takes a stab towards Dominik's chest. He deflects the blow with his sword, and Aelita couldn't overcome his masculine strength. She then takes a quick spin, and takes another stab in a desperate attempt, but only catches his sword again.

Jeremie stares in shock as the two fight, Aelita giving him numerous blows with her daggers, and Dominik only deflecting them. This is ridiculous. The einstein's heart breaks as he notices the real situation. Dominik isn't taking her seriously.

"I never knew that thee could fight with such..._anger_," says Dominik as Aelita tries to hit him again. Her anger boils just beneath the surface, and then she just.. bursts.

"You murdered _my parents_!" Aelita yells, trying to slice him again.

"You took away my _honor_!" She tries again as venom dripped with those words.

"_You ruined so many lives_!" She tries again, putting as much force as she could into it.

But every time, she only caught his sword with a loud and deafening clink. "_AGH!_ I _hate_ you!"

Dominik only laughs. "Are thou tired yet?" he asks. "Satisfied?"

"_SHUT UP_!"

Aelita runs backwards to create some distance, and throws four daggers at Dominik, but he only dodges again by dropping on his belly onto the snow. He then gets up, watching in pleasure as Aelita bends over, cupping both knees with both hands. She pants with exhaustion. Her bangs cling to her face, as she tried very hard to force back tears.

They start to flow down her face as she continuously tries to injure Dominik with futile attempts. He only dodges with minimal exertion of his muscles.

After what seemed like the hundredth blow, Aelita drops her daggers into the snow. She then chokes out, "I...I can't do this.."

"Aelita!" Jeremie yells, cupping his mouth between his hands. "Don't let him do this to you! He's only taunting! Fight back! Please just-"

"Enough fooling around," says Dominik with another smirk, cutting off Jeremie. "Sword of Schaeffer!"

Aelita watches with a broken spirit as the light comes closer and closer to her, radiating with power. Her mind becomes jumbled, as it ignored Jeremie's screams and Dominik's laughs.

She felt the light hit her chest, flattening her into the snow.

_'It is deadly.'_

_Deadly._

Aelita watches her chest heave as she tries desperately to breathe.

And then she was out like a light.

* * *

**Author's Note: I'm not going to say anything, or else I'm going to hint on what's going to happen next... Review please! I worked so hard! :)**


	20. Bow Down

**Hey guys! Thanks for all the positive feedback! :)**

**blueblur2000: Thank you for constantly reviewing, and making them really detailed also! Your comments really help me know that what I'm doing is right. (:**

**Muffinmilk317: Thank you for the great reviews, and I'm really happy that you thought that the last chapter was a really good action scene. I was hoping that it was. (:**

**Random person: Thank you for so many awesome reviews! :) Don't worry, the ending is still pretty far away. I'm still trying to make this story as long as possible... (:**

**Traveler7: Thank you for thinking that my story is interesting. (:**

**thunderman24: Before I wrote this story, I tried really hard to research how to speak medievally. 'thou' is used for the subject of sentences, so it doesn't have to necessarily be in the beginning. (: 'Thee' is used as the direct object. And 'thy/thine' is replacement for your (used as a possesive)... but maybe you're right. (: I sometimes get confused also.**

**InjuredGirl72: Thank you so much for liking my story! :)**

**And to all the guests and Just a reader: Thank you for reviewing! :)**

**If I forgot someone, then I apologize. I really appreciate all of the reviews from everyone. (:**

**So here's Chapter 19. It explains the aftermath of Aelita's death, and Eurasia's fate. So sit back, relax, and enjoy! (I really gotta stop rambling...)**

* * *

Chapter 19: Bow Down

Eurasia's Army watch with widened eyes as Aelita fell backwards from the impact. When she hit the floor, everyone held their breaths, waiting for her to get back up. But she never did.

"I-is she dead?" asks Odd.

Jeremie ignores his question, and makes a mad dash towards the crippled pinkette.

When he reaches Aelita, Jeremie is surprised by what he sees. Aelita lays on the plush snow, her knees and elbows bent, and her eyes closed, almost..peacefully. No gore, no blood.

He checks for a pulse in her inner wrist.

Nothing.

Her neck.

Nothing.

Jeremie's eyes flood with tears as he tries desperately to find signs of life. He hovers a finger right below her nostrils, and feels for signs of breathing. Nothing. At one last desperate attempt, he places his right ear on her chest, listening for a beating heart.

No matter what he did, he found...nothing.

He tries again and again, still not letting the fact sink in.

Aelita is dead.

Yumi, Odd, and Ulrich watch in horror as their close friend futilely looks for signs of life, getting insane in the process. They run up behind him.

Jeremie whips around to look at his friends, revealing his endless sea of tears. "Aelita's...dead," he says, burying his face in his hands. "No no no no _no!_"

Jeremie shakes his head from left to right vigorously, as Odd says, "Wh-what the heck did that thing do to her?"

"No one knows."

The group of four turn to look at Dominik, acknowledging his presence for the first time since Aelita's death. His smug look abruptly sets Jeremie off.

He just lost it.

Jeremie immediately lunges for Dominik, but Ulrich and Odd are able to grab his arms before he could touch the King. Jeremie screams as Yumi tried to calm him down, all the while struggling to get out of his friends' grasps.

"Jeremie, stop-"

"I'M GOING TO _KILL_ HIM!"

Dominik laughs, and says, "Thou shalt listen to thy friends, Jeremie. Bow down to your new King."

"Over my dead body," snarls Jeremie. "I'm still a free citizen, Dominik. I live in Spain, the last country ever to be free."

"You wish," retorts Dominik. "According to your files, you're from France, a conquered country." He then points to Ulrich. "-And you're from Germany. Yumi, you're from Japan, and Odd, you're from Italy. _All conquered_. Now _bow_. Or I will throw your useless lives in prison." He then looks in E.A's direction. "-and ye all too. Ye all art lucky enough to not have been locked up already," he mumbles.

Dominik then walks up to Yumi and pulls at her hair, trying to get the Dragon's Barrette out. When he finally got it free, he also asks, "The Guardian's Ring?" The King holds out his hand towards Yumi, and she reluctantly pulls the ring from her finger. She then hands it to Dominik, knowing that if she refuses she will kill him with the Sword of Schaeffer.

"Thank you. Now, the Healing Hand of Schaeffer."

Jeremie digs in the first aid kit, and hands it to Dominik with a malevolent glare.

"Grammercy. Now _proceed_."

Very slowly, the whole lot of teenagers bow down on their knees to Dominik, many of them crying in the process.

They all knew what this meant.

Eurasia is done for.

* * *

**Author's Note: I know things seem really bad now, but I promise the outcome will be good in the end. I mean, _really _good... I hope you enjoyed this chapter, or at least felt a bit sad..**

**Oh, and before you call Dominik a stalker, lemme explain: Yumi, Odd, Ulrich, and Jeremie are the four main fighters of the organization, of course he would know where they are from. He can just tell from their ethnicities also. The next chapter shall be pretty interesting. (:**

**Thanks for reading! :) Review please!**


	21. Message

**Hey guys! Thanks for the great reviews! I must say, this isn't exactly my _best _chapter. It's a bit choppy. But still readable. So, I hope you enjoy it! Sit back, relax, and enjoy! Happy reading! Here's Chapter 20.**

* * *

Chapter 20: Message

"I bid ye all goodbye," says Dominik with a smile to the still bowing army. "Meanwhile, my henchmen will escort you back to Spain."

And like that, he jumps into the void he created, disappearing into thin air.

* * *

The journey back to Spain wasn't all that terrible, though it took some time getting used to not being able to teleport with the barrette. Since Dominik conquered almost every country, he had many connections, and this made the travel much easier.

But the journey still took days.

* * *

Back at headquarters, the Queen of Spain sits in her throne room, alone. She is still fuming with anger because of Jeremie's impulsive betrayal _again_.

"I am going to _strangle_ that child once he gets back," she murmurs to herself.

And then enters Dominik with a few of his guards.

The Queen immediately sits up, giving a malevolent glare towards Dominik. "What art thou doing here?!" she yells in a hushed tone.

"Aina, long time, no see," says Dominik with a smirk. "And to answer thy question, I came here to _kill_ you."

Aina immediately pales. Her heart literally jumps out of her chest. She gives him another death glare, And then thinks of an idea. "Thou hast already killed Francis, and Anthea. Don't thou at least feel a bit _guilty_, perchance? 'Twas him that was close companions with you."

He widens his eyes. "Don't thou _dare_ speak that name to me! He is _vile_!" Dominik snarls.

"Why not?" asks the Queen of Spain. "Just because Anthea did not return thou love and chose Francis instead does not mean thee should have _killed_ him."

"Is that so?" asks Dominik. "Well, Francis did not return _your_ love. But thou was still pathetic enough to help him."

Aina narrows her eyes. "I did it out of kindness and respect towards him. He knew thou were insane, and I knew as well. Which is why I helped him hide away half of the Items. You will never-"

"ENOUGH!" Dominik yells. "Thou hast established an army against me. Thou deserves to die."

"Thou need love in your life," she chokes out as a guard holds a knife to her throat. "He was your only _friend_, Dominik."

He glares at the Queen. "_Rot in hell._"

"Same to you." Aina smiles.

And like that, the guard slid the knife.

* * *

Jeremie, Odd, Yumi, and Ulrich share a carriage as they ride towards Spain from within France, their last trip. Aelita's dead body rests on their laps; her head in Jeremie's lap, and from the neck down on Odd's, Yumi's, and then Ulrich's. No one speaks. Everyone is too immersed in their own thoughts.

Jeremie absentmindedly strokes Aelita's short, pink hair. He tries to force back tears as he reminisces all the moments he had with Aelita over and over again. He mourns in thick silence, and listens to the recurring thumps from the carriage's wheels as they run over bumpy roads filled with rubble.

Ulrich sits on the far right of the carriage, looking out the window absentmindedly. He didn't bother marveling at the sights of France, he was just too deep into thought. He then perks up, and says, "Okay guys, I'm confused. Why would Dominik actually help us get back to Spain? Why didn't he just kill us right on the spot?"

Jeremie turns his gaze towards him, momentarily pausing his stroking. He then shrugs. "Probably he wants us to see something in Spain that wasn't there before."

Yumi sits up. "That's right! He took the Dragon's Barrette from us, so we couldn't arrive back to Spain immediately. Meaning that he's doing something right now."

"Or maybe he's done it already," says Odd.

"So what, he killed the Queen?" asks Ulrich.

Jeremie nods solemnly. "The last country ever to be conquered. Dominik has full control over us now. _We lost._"

* * *

Back at headquarters, Jeremie, Odd, Yumi, and Ulrich exit their carriage, along with the rest of the army. Ulrich carries Aelita's body, with no objection from Yumi this time. Things are too woeful to fight over silly little things.

They walk towards Aelita's room, and Ulrich gently places Aelita on her bed. Jeremie pulls the blanket over her body and on top her head, out of respect, and turns to look at the rest of the group.

"So what now?" asks Odd.

"We check if the Queen is still alive, and then we organize a funeral for Aelita," Jeremie replies.

They all nod, and start their walk towards the throne, first through the arena, and then through the battlefield.

* * *

When they arrived at the throne room, the sight is horrifying. Blood is splattered all over the blue tiled floor, but there is no body. In the mess of it all lays a white envelope on the red plush of the throne.

Jeremie walks towards the throne slowly, his shoes giving off distinguishing clacks against the tiled floor, piercing through the endless silence. Odd, Yumi, and Ulrich stay behind, and rest their eyes on the genius.

Jeremie picks up the thick white envelope, and engraved in the front with purple letters is: _Eurasia's Army._

"Well, what does it say?" asks Ulrich.

"I'm getting to that," says Jeremie in a slightly irritated tone. "It's addressed to us. All of us."

Jeremie rips the top off, and withdraws thick white card stock from inside. He unfolds it, and it reads:

_To my dearest friends, and enemies,_

_Thou art invited._

_To where, you ask?_

_Well, to my hearing of course._

_As all of you should know, I now rule every country,_

_every city,_

_and every village of Eurasia._

_The hearing takes place in the Square,_

_tomorrow at noon._

_No objections,_

_since your carriage will be waiting._

_Yours truly,_

_King Dominik Diederich_

* * *

**Author's Note: LOL, love square. -woah- Will they decide to go to the hearing? Well, they _are _required. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I love you all. (:**


	22. Revival

**Hey guys! Quick update! This is where the twist begins. I hope you enjoy this Chapter! :)**

* * *

Chapter 21: Revival

"No way in hell are we going to the hearing," says Yumi after Jeremie recited Dominik's letter aloud.

"But we're required to, Yumi," answers Jeremie. He doesn't want to go himself. But he wants to find out what the King's up to.

"I am not going to listen to that Genghis Khan wannabe talk like he has power and authority over us!" retorts Yumi. "Going will just show that we gave up trying to overthrow him!"

"But don't you want to know what he has in mind for all of us? For all of Eurasia? Maybe his intentions for the future are not that bad." Jeremie just wanted some _hope_ to hold onto.

Yumi walks up to him and strikes him on the cheek with her hand, hard enough to sting a little, but no too hard to make him tear up. "Not _that_ bad?" asks Yumi venomously. "You _cannot_ be serious. He killed my parents, your parents, Aelita's parents, he started a continental war, and he burned down almost every country for crying out loud! He's going to make our lives like a living purgatory!"

Jeremie places his hand lightly on his cheek, wincing a little. "We're going, and that's that," he answers with a commanding tone. "I'll tell the rest of the army, and after that, we'll tell some men to put Aelita into the Schaeffer crypt."

Giving up, Yumi nods reluctantly, and walks with a huff towards her room. Ulrich and Odd watch her go, as Jeremy heads the other way to notify the rest of the soldiers.

* * *

_Where am I?_

Aelita's emerald green eyes shoot open, and she finds herself lying comfortably on some floor. Slowly, she gets up, and becomes frightened when she scouts her surroundings.

She stands on an empty black floor, the walls blending in with it, stretching out into vast nothingness. This reminds her vaguely of her castle's black rooms, and a pang of dizziness overcomes her.

Surrounding her is a grayish haze, and she watches as it gathers in one place and distorts into a shadowy figure. It takes shape into an almost _womanly_ figure.

Aelita watches in wonder as it's lines define. After it takes color, she gasps.

What stands before her is Anthea Schaeffer, the mother she loved and missed _so_ much.

"Mother!" Aelita shrieks with joy. She bolts towards the woman, feeling as if she is floating in midair, the blackness consuming her. It's almost like Aelita isn't traveling a distance; only her mother approaching telling her that she is.

As Aelita runs closer, she hears ominously high-pitched voices.

"_You are immune."_

_Immune._

Immune to what?

When Aelita completely closes the distance between her and her mother, she immediately wraps her arms around her neck, Anthea not noticing her presence until she did. Tears start to flow down Aelita's face, and only become stronger as Anthea returns the hug.

"I miss you," Aelita mumbles into her shirt.

"I miss you too," Anthea replies as she rubs her daughter's back.

Aelita then pulls away momentarily. "I'm confused, mother. Am I dead or am I not?"

"That's for you to decide," Anthea replies with a hint of wisdom.

"I heard these voices," Aelita blurts out. "They say I am immune. Immune to what?"

A few minutes pass as Anthea rubs her chin and finally perks up. Aelita could've sworn that a lightbulb went off on top of her head. "The Items of Schaeffer. You are immune to any negative effects they cause. When Dominik shot you with the Sword, the only thing you thought about was death. You unknowingly told your body to shut down, so it did."

Aelita's eyes narrow in concentration. "I still don't get it. Why am_ I_ immune, but not everyone else? And the Slaughtering Hand was used on me too. But I still got cut."

Anthea chuckles. She then says, "Because you are of Schaeffer bloodline. Some kind of witchcraft spell that your father's generation put on the whole family. -And the spell was only to prevent Item-induced death. The Slaughtering Hand did not hurt you to the extent of killing you."

Aelita nods. That _did _make sense. Anthea then continues, shaking Aelita's shoulders in a gesture of encouragement, "_Will_ yourself to revive. Tell yourself that your life will not end like this. You are very intelligent, and I know you can do it." Anthea then starts to fade. "-Goodbye Aelita."

"Mother! No, please don't!" But Anthea's fading fast. When she completely disappeared, Aelita's heart breaks. But the feeling quickly disappeared.

_Okay Aelita, will yourself to revive._

Closing her eyes, Aelita thinks about everything that made her want to live.

Friendship.

Love...

_Revenge._

And like that, Aelita's eyes once again pop open.

* * *

**Author's Note: Haha, so how did you like the chapter? I like it very much. Review please! :)**


	23. Disguise

**Hey guys! Here's another chapter. Sit back, relax, and enjoy! Happy reading! :)**

* * *

Chapter 22: Disguise

The first thing Aelita noticed when she woke up was that she was sweltering hot. All she saw was white.

Sitting up, she felt a sheet sliding down her face, revealing the world she once left. Looking around, she finds herself in her room in Eurasia's Army's headquarters, making her enter a state of deja vu.

One thing entered her mind.

_Jeremie._

Where is he?

Hurriedly, she strips out of her thick winter gear and leaves her room, only wearing her white lacy dress.

* * *

Entering the arena, she finds everyone rushing around, as if they were leaving for something. Jeremie stands in the center of it all, in a deep blue dress shirt and black slacks, barking orders at whoever walked past.

"That's not formal enough, change again!"

"Yes, hide your weapon inside your jacket!"

"No, we will not ignite combat unless he does first!"

Aelita shuffles towards him, and taps him lightly on the shoulder from behind. Jeremie didn't acknowledge her.

"Jeremie-"

"What now?!" Jeremie whips around, and finds him staring right into Aelita's eyes. His own widen into a pair of light blue saucers, and he inspects Aelita from top to bottom.

Aelita's lacy white dress emphasized her pale skin, making her look almost...

Ghostly.

Jeremie didn't believe it at first. He pales. Is she really alive? Jeremie didn't dare think that this was her spirit, because he didn't believe in the paranormal.

"Aelita..." Jeremie trails off. "I...don't know what to say. Aren't you supposed to be dead?" He mentally slapped himself. Why the heck did he say that?! But what else is he supposed to say?

"I'm really here, Jeremie," answers Aelita with a smile. She then hugs him, and says, "I'm immune to the items of Schaeffer."

Tears start to flow down his face. The girl he loved, right here in his arms. He couldn't believe it. Jeremie already lost her twice, he did not want to go down that road again. "I'm...so happy you're here," says Jeremie, barely passing through the lump in his throat.

"Me too," Aelita says back, slightly chuckling. "So what's happening?"

"Dominik's hearing," Jeremie says in an almost annoyed tone. "We're leaving in about an hour. Formal wear is required. I just want to get _rid_ of him."

"But how-"

Aelita looks around, and finds everyone but herself and Jeremie froze up in silence. Standing right in front of the hugging pair were Ulrich, Yumi, and Odd, and their mouths are agape.

"Oh my God," Yumi says.

"I can't believe it," says Ulrich.

"Will someone please explain?!" yells Odd.

"Maybe later," answers Jeremie. "I've got a plan. And you guys have to listen very carefully. All members of the Main Branch, meet in my room in five minutes. You too, Aelita."

The four of them nod towards Jeremie, and they leave to do last minute preparations.

* * *

"Okay guys," says Jeremie. The five of them sit in a circle in Jeremie's room, discussing a highly confidential topic. "I've got a plan. We've got fifty minutes to get this ready, so please listen carefully."

The four nod in response.

"In Dominik's eyes, Aelita is still dead. Which is why she's the only one who can do this."

A feeling of nervousness overwhelms the Princess. The last time she did something on her own, she nearly died. And again, all the pressure is on her shoulders. It is not a good feeling knowing that the whole continent is relying on you.

"So, while we fought those cloaked figures, I was studying intently on how identical they dress. It's always the same black cloak and black mask with small eye holes and a mouth hole. So I was thinking-"

Aelita crossed her fingers under the table. She_ does not_ want Jeremie to say what she thinks he's gonna say.

"-that Aelita should pose as one of them."

_Darn._

Aelita lets out a long sigh. Then tears start to burn the back of her eyes. She does not want to take part in something that she can easily mess up and in result, lose everything. "Jeremie..." she says, "I don't think I can do that."

Jeremie's mouth drops. He then says, "I know it's not very nice to put all of this pressure on your shoulders, but you're the only one who can do it."

"_Why me_?!" Aelita snaps.

Jeremie takes a deep breath. "Dominik will get suspicious if he doesn't see Ulrich, Yumi, or Odd at the hearing. He'll easily tell that something is up. You've seen how smart he is. If you're not at the hearing, he would think nothing of it, since he knows he killed you."

"Why not get someone else that isn't in the main branch?" asks Yumi. "I doubt that Dominik memorized all ten thousand of our faces. We can use William."

Ulrich groans.

Jeremie shakes his head. "That's too risky. Using Aelita is the best chance we've got. Using anyone else besides us five.. I don't know, I just feel like I can't trust them."

Aelita sighs again. "I understand Jeremie," she says. "I'll do it."

"Thank you." Jeremie smiles widely. "Okay, so in Yumi's closet, I put in the cloak and mask. It might be a little big for you, but that's the whole point. We want you to conceal as much skin as you can." He then pauses. "We also need to make the skin on your arms look sickly, just in case the sleeves accidentally slide down your arm. Do any of you guys know anyone who's good with makeup?"

Yumi, Odd, and Ulrich look at one another. As if on cue, together they say, "Sissi."

* * *

Aelita runs to Yumi's closet, and quickly slips on the cloak and mask. It took her awhile to get used to breathing through her mouth, but besides that, everything with the costume was fine.

She didn't even start with the task yet, and she is already starting to become anxious to get this over with.

When she walks out, she finds Odd leaning against the wall staring straight at her. He chuckles, acknowledging the outfit, and Aelita lightly punches his shoulder.

Odd offers his arm. "You ready to go, Princess?"

Aelita takes a deep breath, knowing that she is going to dislike what's happening next. She links her arm with Odd's, and says, "Take me to Sissi."

He nods, and escorts her to Sissi's room.

* * *

Aelita walks out of Sissi's room with her arms painted a sickly pale gray. For even more added effect, she took things further and painted some veins. For a while, Sissi confronted Aelita for calling her Elizabeth, since the naive princess just wanted to address her with respect.

She quietly sneaks out of headquarters, and goes to stand next to another cloaked figure.

During the next twenty minutes that passed, soldiers slowly filed out the headquarters' doors. Yumi, Odd, Ulrich, and Jeremie were first to emerge, and find themselves immediately confronted by some of the henchmen. They thrust some formal wear into their faces, and they widen their eyes in surprise.

"Formal wear is provided," says one of the henchmen. "Thanks for trying, but the stuff you're wearing now ain't gonna cut it."

The four fighters nod slowly, and take their designated clothing back into the building.

* * *

Ten minutes later, Yumi is the first to emerge. She wears a strapless dress made up of a tight black bodice decorated with silver sequins and a black tutu skirt that reached halfway down her thighs. She also wears black open toe ankle boots while choosing to keep her hair in its natural short and straight style.

"I feel like a slut," she murmurs to herself. "Dang you, Dominik."

Ulrich is the next to emerge. He wears an unbuttoned gray tuxedo jacket over a white dress shirt. Paired with it are black dress pants and a bowtie. His black dress shoes clack against the gravel as he walks toward Yumi, and his jaw drops at the sight of her.

He clears his throat. "Wow Yumi.. you look.. nice," he says. _Ugh, not nice, you're gorgeous._

Yumi looks down at herself, and laughs. "I feel slutty. And you don't look bad yourself," she says.

Five minutes later, Odd is the next to emerge. He wears a black vest over a purple dress shirt and a black bowtie. He pairs it with the same pants and shoes as Ulrich, except a smaller size.

"How do I look, guys?" he asks. "Pretty sharp, don't you think?" He then points his gaze towards Yumi. "Wow Yumes, you look gorgeous!"

Ulrich's head starts to boil, and he slouches. Yumi laughs, and nods her thanks towards Odd.

Soon after, Jeremie is the last to emerge. He wears a traditional black tux with a black and white striped tie. He nods solemnly at his teammates, and walks into a carriage with them. The genius feels ridiculous.

**Once in, he silently prayed to himself, hoping that Aelita will be alright.**

* * *

**Author's Note: So another mission for our Lyoko Warriors... Will they succeed? Sorry I updated so late today, I was really busy. First hiking up a mountain, and then eating Chinese food with my family. Then playing badminton (I'm too Asian), and now it's nighttime, and I'm typing this up. I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Review please! :) Thank you.**


	24. Finale

**Hey guys! Despite the name, this chapter is _not _the last of this story. I hope you really enjoy this one! Happy reading! :) Here's chapter 23.**

* * *

Chapter 23: Finale

Aelita stands between two cloaked figures, nervously watching the last of the soldiers exit the headquarters. Her palms are clammy, and she tries very hard not to sweat, or the makeup will wash away. Wearing a large cloak during the winter made her very warm.. almost _too_ warm.

Looking around, she tries to find a cloaked figure that seemed easiest to take out without the notice of any other henchmen. From inside her cloak, she withdraws a dagger, and holds it behind her back, careful to not arouse any suspicion.

Then, an idea hits her.

One henchmen rides inside the body of each carriage with a few of the soldiers, while another one leads the horses. All Aelita needs to do is kill the henchman inside the carriage the Main Branch is riding in, and replace him. No other enemies will notice his disappearance because one, Aelita will be replacing him, and two, the carriage is enclosed.

She quickly walks towards the carriage that the four entered, and opens its door. Immediately, when the cloaked figure laid eyes on Aelita, she pierces the knife in its chest, causing him to disintegrate into thin air.

Aelita smiles to herself, and sits herself inside, closing the door behind her. She sits beside Yumi, across from Jeremie, Odd, and Ulrich.

"Aelita.. is that you?" whispers Odd.

She nods slowly, and gives him a thumbs up.

"Great job," replies Jeremie, smiling. "If you hadn't killed him, there wouldn't be a carriage for you."

* * *

During the next twenty minutes the ride took towards the Square, the five sat in in comfortable silence. Everyone is still thinking about how the outcome will be. This is their last chance ever. Aelita is too nervous and anxious to speak. She's the only one who can kill Dominik once and for all. _Again_.

She nervously twiddled her thumbs, all the while staring at her sickly palms. Aelita marvels at how great and real Sissi made them look.

Yumi repeatedly smooths out her skirt out of anxiety while trying her best to keep up a stoic face. She almost couldn't breathe. Partly it was her nervousness taking toll, but mostly it was the tight bodice. Even with her flat stomach and thin frame, the bodice was still pretty tight.

Ulrich continuously runs his fingers through his dark brown hair. He also randomly adjusts the tuxedo jacket at random intervals whenever he felt too stiff.

Jeremie looks up at the carriage's ceiling and thinks up all the ways this plan could go wrong as he absentmindedly tapped his fingers on the carriage's plush seat.

Odd meanwhile quietly hums his favorite songs to himself.

* * *

All five look out the carriage's window when they arrived. What they saw before them was nothing like anything they expected.

"Wow," Yumi says.

A large royal tent stands before them, replacing the shacks that used to be there. It's white, with gently sloping roofs, and a few windows are cut out of the sides, revealing the golden light seeping through from inside. Right outside is a large patio, fit to hold a few hundred people, decorated with sleek and modern tables that take a tall and skinny shape. They dot the patio with alternating blacks and whites, as people in highly formal wear set their champagne on their tops. From the windows, they can see an occupied piano and hundreds of plush white couches with gold framing inside, meant for the audiences. In the front stands an even grander couch, red instead of white, meant for the King. Lining the aisles are golden spherical lights, adding to the high level of elegance the place already has.

Odd, Yumi, Ulrich, Jeremie, and Aelita slowly exit the carriage. They look around, the white of the tent contrasting with the hues of orange and yellows given off by the sunset. Their nervousness highly skyrockets.

Aelita slinks away to follow the rest of the cloaked figures.

* * *

Aelita and the rest of Dominik's henchmen leave their soldiers, and simultaneously walk towards a smaller tent in the nearby park that sits behind the main tent with the patio. Its a simple tent draped with white fabric, and inside is just...space. Nothing furnishes the interior.

Once entered, they crowd together, and wait attentively for Dominik to call them. But Aelita didn't have the time.

She has other things to attend to.

The undercover teen turns to the first person she sees and asks him with a low and masculine voice, "Do you know where Dominik keeps the Items of Schaeffer? He asked me to fetch the Guardian's Ring for him, but I don't know where it is..."

The henchman shakes his head. He then says in a robotic tone, "Master Dominik kept that strictly confidential."

Aelita nods slowly. "I understand. Thank you for your time." _Plan A is down. _The Princess clenched her fists. _"How do you expect me to find these things, Jeremie!?" _she thinks to herself. She can remember Jeremie's exact words: _Find the Items at all costs._ What costs? No one knows _anything_ about where they are!

Aelita takes a deep breath, and composes herself. She has no time to get worked up over Jeremie's vagueness. In a rush of anxiety, Aelita starts to pace back and forth, thinking intently about where to look while absentmindedly pushing fellow henchmen out of the way. Her mind blank, she listens to the sounds her shoes make when they ride over the grass.

_crunch. crunch. crunch. clack! clack! crunch. crunch. crunch._

She turns around, and again walks the path.

_crunch. crunch. crunch. clack! clack! crunch. crunch. crunch._

Aelita perks up and widens her eyes. Her mouth forms into a large grin. Using the other henchmen as cover, she crouches down to ground level, and lightly runs her hand over the pointed blades of grass. She taps her fingers on the floor as she did so, touching for something firm and slick. When they did, she feels around the area, and her hands run into a handle. Aelita couldn't help but applaud Dominik for hiding them in the place where all of his henchmen will be unknowingly guarding them.

She pulls at it, and the wooden door opened with a small creak to reveal seven of the items. The rest of the henchmen didn't seem to notice, man were they oblivious. Dominik has to train them once in a while. Lucky for Eurasia's Army. The Slaughtering Hand, the Healing Hand, the Elemental Bender, the Dragon's Barrette, the Sword of Schaeffer, the Guardian's Ring, and the Cloak were all in the tiny compartment. Dominik still must have the Death's Skull.

_Darn._

Quickly, Aelita takes the two items she needs: The Guardian's Ring, and the Sword of Schaeffer. She puts on the ring, and clasps the scabbard around her waist. She then readjusts her cloak until it wouldn't reveal the sword. For even more an added bonus, Aelita takes the Cloak of Visibility and Sound, folds it up, and stuffs it into her lacy dress.

Aelita then quickly gets up, and acts as if nothing happened. But then she finds herself face to face with another one of Dominik's henchmen. The pair of them stand alone in the far upper left corner of the room, and he asks in a robotic tone identical to the previous', "What are you doing, disobeying Master's Orders? Put them back before he puts us to death."

Aelita freezes up. _"What do I do?" _she thinks to herself. Jeremie forbade her to kill any of the enemies, because Dominik is bound to count them off later.

But she has no choice. She'll think of it as payback for Jeremie's rash vagueness. They're lucky enough to have at least found the items.

Quickly, she pulls out a dagger from the pouch clasped to her waist, and stabs it in the enemy's chest before it could withdraw its own sword. As it disintegrates into thin air, she rushes to join the other henchmen in the more crowded part of the tent, and waits quietly for Dominik to call them. She crosses her fingers, hoping Dominik wouldn't establish a head count.

* * *

Yumi, Odd, Jeremie, and Ulrich stand outside in a single file line, waiting for their turn to get inside the tent. Once people got their names checked to go inside, they sit down on the couch of their choice, and wait quietly for their notorious King to arrive.

"It feels like I'm waiting to enter a night club," says Yumi, getting more irritated by the second. "Slutty clothes, long line... this fits the description perfectly."

Ulrich laughs. "Yumi, you do not look slutty," he says. "Don't worry about it."

"Most of us don't even want to be here, and he still makes us _wait_ to get in," she answers, crossing her arms and tapping her foot on the plush grass.

Yumi is the first person of the four to reach the beginning of the line. One man, who is probably like the bouncer, wears a plain black tux, almost identical to Jeremie's. He has shaggy, sand colored hair, and wrinkles cover every inch of his face. His frame is tall and lanky, similar to Domink's.

In a monotonous, bored tone, he asks, "Name?"

"Yumi Ishiyama."

He skims through the long list of names, and checks off the box next to Yumi's. "You may enter," he says. "Withdraw your weapon, and place it on the table there." He points to a table with a whole pile of fighting gear, surprising Yumi. Dominik sure is intelligent. "And don't try to hide them, the henchmen inside will be checking for them also."

Yumi slowly nods, and from the inside of her cardigan, she takes out her tessen fans, reluctantly placing them on the table next to the rest. She then walks in, giving the bouncer stink eye on the way.

Not long after, the whole group sits together on a plush white couch, again starting to get anxious. Most of their worries are on Aelita, and Jeremie especially worries about the Items of Schaeffer. Did she find them? He still guilts over the fact that he had to be so vague with his instructions, but he insists that that's the only way to go about this.

Meanwhile, Ulrich hesitantly takes Yumi's hand, and starts to stroke his thumb along the back of her palm.

Yumi gives him a quizzical look.

"Just in a friendly gesture to soothe you, nothing more," says Ulrich in a defensive tone. "If it makes you feel any better, I'm nervous for Aelita too."

Yumi nods, and lets him continue without objection. She smiles her thanks.

* * *

Aelita's heart pumps violently, almost to the point where it could become a heart attack. She takes deep breaths, trying to calm it down. She just wishes that Dominik can just call them out already.

Ten minutes later, which felt like an eternity, Dominik's messenger comes running into the crowded tent, the same person that acted like the bouncer.

Between breaths, he says, "You guys should get in there." He points to outside with his thumb. "Dominik wants all of you."

* * *

When Aelita entered the tent, her ears were immediately greeted to the loud chatter amongst the audience. She takes her place next to another henchman, and waits patiently behind Domink.

The notorious King sits in his grand red couch, while the cloaked figures stand behind him, acting like his bodyguards. A few more stand towards the back of the tent, blocking the exit/ entrance. Wow. What a nice way to welcome your guests.

Aelita's eyes widen as she notices Dominik scanning his eyes throughout the group of henchmen. Her heart beats harder, and her palms become slick with cold sweat. Her mask clings to her skin, and she wraps the cloak even tighter around herself.

Dominik's face turns as hard as stone, concealing the suspicion growing up inside him. He's one guard short. _"Those pests are still fighting back,"_ he thinks to himself. _"They killed one of my henchmen!"_

The King nods, and all of the henchmen withdraw their swords and take battle stances. Aelita withdraws the Sword of Schaeffer, and wraps her hands tightly around the hilt, careful to conceal the white and blue checkered pattern. All of Eurasia's Army look as if they were ready to bolt out of their seats, but they know there's nothing they can do. Without their weapons, they cannot fight. The rest of the audience stare in confusion.

"This..is to all of my dear friends in Eurasia's Army," says Dominik in a chilling tone. "If someone does _not_ confess to their crime of _murder_, then all of you will face your deaths in a matter of seconds. I'm missing a henchman."

The atmosphere becomes extremely tense, punctuated by the thick silence. Jeremie could do nothing but think that Aelita must've killed one because they were catching onto her suspicious ways. _"There's no need to confront Aelita about this,"_ he thinks to herself. _"There's no time for that. Let's just hope she has the Items of Schaeffer."  
_

No one says anything in the next few minutes that pass. Dominik crosses his arms. "Alright," he says simply. "Then so be it."

_Oh no._

Quickly, Aelita whispers quietly, "The Guardian's Ring!"

Aelita closes her eyes, and she visualizes a forcefield separating the henchmen from herself, Dominik, and Eurasia's Army. The ring bursts with blue light, and Aelita tries to hide it, covering up the ring with her cloak. But the light spreads with a shimmery sound, and sooner than anyone could imagine, the force grew enough to force the cloak out of its way.

Dominik notices the commotion as the henchmen try to get through. Knowing that the disguise no longer matters, Aelita pulls off the cloak and mask, revealing her true self.

Dominik turns around, highly eager to find the source of the blue light while hoping that it isn't the Guardian's Ring. Even though it is practically the only possibility.

Fueling his emotions with anger and also surprise, the King finds the last person he expected to see.

What stands before him is the one and only Aelita Schaeffer, the thought-to-be-dead Princess, wearing the sapphire ring on one of her dainty fingers. Dominik doesn't show any sings of fear, even though it looks like he doesn't have any way in escaping, and he withdraws his own sword. In a flash, he grabs Jeremie by the collar, dragging him towards the King, and then pressing the tip of the blade on the skin of his throat, firmly, but not firm enough to draw blood. The young einstein noticeable pales, and a sickly grin grows on Dominik's face.

Aelita only narrows her eyes, refusing to believe Dominik could stoop so low a level. But a flicker of happiness flashes across her eyes; she can tell Dominik's getting desperate. She _knows _that they've got him cornered. But Aelita knew better than to underestimate Dominik's abilities, so the stoic Princess only tightens her grip around the hilt of the deadly sword.

Jeremie wraps his hands tightly around Dominik's wrist, trying to pry the hand off his collar, but to no avail. A pleading look sets on the einstein's face, silently calling for help.

"Shoot me with that sword, and thy.._beloved _friend will never see you or anyone else ever again," says Dominik, averting his eyes towards the armed Princess. The genius widens his eyes.

"No, Aelita, just kill him, don't worry about me!" says Jeremie desperately. "Losing one life is better-"

"CLOSE YOUR MOUTH!" yells Dominik. He presses the tip harder against Jeremie's throat, drawing a few droplets of bright red. Jeremie yelps in fear, helplessly closing his eyes.

Aelita's hands wrap even tighter around the hilt. She knows she's at a dead lock right now. Her body shakes in desperation, as the rest of the army stare with faces evident in fear. Then Odd perks up, and thinks of an idea.

"GO!" he yells.

The whole army stares in confusion at first, and then simultaneously lunges for Domink, literally smothering him. But before he could release Jeremie, he plunges the blade into his left chest in a desperate attempt to injure him, and releases the sword. Jeremie screams in pain, the sword still in his chest, and is left on the floor bleeding heavily with blood. He could feel his left lung filling up with fluid as he gasps for air.

"NO!" Aelita shrieks. "SWORD OF SCHAEFFER!"

Once Eurasia's Army finished with beating Dominik with their fists, they get out of the way, leaving Dominik to lay crumpled on the floor. Aelita immediately finishes charging up the sword, and releases the deadly wave of iridescent energy on the helpless King, enveloping him with its high level of power. One last blood-curdling, ear splitting scream emits from his mouth, and then...

Silence.

Dominik is dead.

Aelita shakes her head, and says, "After all this time, I never thought that I'd be the one to kill you." She then runs and kneels beside the slipping Jeremie. "Hurry up!" she yells. "Call an ambulance!"

* * *

**Author's Note: Cliffhanger! Haha, so this is a pretty long chapter in a long time, so I hope you enjoyed this one! :) Sorry that I took longer than usual to update, I just wanted to make this perfect for you guys. (:**


	25. Never

**Hey guys! Thanks so much for all the great reviews, faves, and follows! :) It's really nice to know that you guys are enjoying this story. Just to tell you, this is _not _the last chapter, so anticipate more to come! :) So..enjoy! Here's Chapter 24: Never.**

* * *

Chapter 24: Never

Aelita watches with fearful eyes as Jeremie's body is pulled away on a gurney into the back of the all-too-familiar red and white ambulance. The sword is still pierced fatally in his chest, for the paramedics didn't want to pull it out in case of further injury. Her body numbs as her mind becomes jumbled with all of the thoughts concerning Jeremie's well-being. Tears burn the back of her eyes.

Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi weren't taking it well either.

"So...he's going to be okay, right?" asks Ulrich.

"I feel like it's all my fault," says Odd somberly. "If only I hadn't thought of that stupid plan!" He punches the couch with his fists repeatedly to vent out his anger.

"Don't say that!" says Yumi. "If anything, your plan saved us in the long run. We killed Dominik. We won."

"Well, what if Jeremie dies?!" yells Odd, watching Aelita break down in tears as the ambulance drives away.

"Odd, don't say that!" yells Yumi. "He's not going to die, I'm sure of it."

* * *

_Am I going to die?_

Jeremie couldn't stop coughing as the paramedics brought him in the ambulance, the sword feeling like it's getting deeper after every heave. He widened his eyes when he coughed and spit up blood, spraying the white sheets of the gurney.

His hands were shaking.

He doesn't want to face death. Not _now_ at least.

* * *

At the hospital, Odd, Yumi, Ulrich, and Aelita sit in the waiting room, surrounded by the plain and dull white walls of the room. A whole set of magazines are fanned out on the coffee table in front of them, but no one bothered to read them, too occupied by Jeremie's fatal injury.

Aelita takes deep breaths, cupping her head with both her hands. Her heart breaks as she tries to force back tears, knowing the fact that she never told him how she felt.

_"Jeremie is not going to die,"_ Aelita thinks to herself as she got more doubtful. "_He is not._"

Meanwhile, Odd cups his cheeks in his hands, staring out into space. He long ago got suffocated by the guilt, and the only thing he could do right now without getting a headache was do nothing but stare.

At about 12:00 a.m, a doctor in a white lab coat enters the room, making the four immediately rise. Aelita brightens up when she saw that the doctor's face showed no signs of solemness, or sadness, just a faint smile.

Yumi immediately launches the question. "How is he?" she asks.

"He'll be fine," answers the doctor, as the four collected sighs of relief. "He got pneumothorax, causing his left lung to collapse, but we were able to get the chest tube in him just in time before his other lung could. And because no one was dumb enough to take out the sword, a few minutes were bought, which probably..saved his life."

"How long until he's up and running again?" asks Odd.

"Up to eight weeks."

"Can we see him?" asks Aelita.

"I can't see why not. But only one at a time, he needs his rest."

Aelita looks at her three guardians with a pleading face, and they simultaneously smile and nod their heads.

"Go ahead, Princess," says Odd. "Just don't take too long, we know how you two can be."

"Odd!" yells Ulrich.

Aelita's face turns into a deep shade of scarlet, and she lowers her head to hide it. Then nodding to the doctor, she lets him escort her to Jeremie's room.

* * *

Once in, Aelita immediately rushes to Jeremie's side. She quietly watches as he peacefully rests, and listens to the recurring beeps emitting from the heart monitor.

Hesitantly, Aelita lightly strokes Jeremie's cheek with the back of her hand, surprised by how cold it is. Jeremie mildly stirs, and she immediately pulls away, gasping.

His eyelids slowly flutter open. "Ae-...Aelita?" he asks.

Aelita immediately wraps her arms around him, causing the einstein to softly grunt and his cheeks to become red. "_Oh Jeremie_!" she yells, fresh tears streaming down her face. "_I_ thought I lost you back there!"

Jeremie laughs. "I'm okay now, Aelita, you don't have to worry..." He trails off for a second. Then recent events concerning Dominik came crashing down on him. "Is Dominik...dead?"

Aelita sniffs, wiping at her tears. "Of _course_ Jeremie. _I _killed him."

The genius wraps his arms around Aelita, stroking the back of her hair. "Thank you..." he quietly whispers.

A few minutes of silence pass. "We've been through a lot these past few weeks, huh?" Aelita randomly brings up.

"Yeah," Jeremie answers. "And during those weeks, I almost lost you. _Twice._"

"I'm here now..." the Princess trails off, mumbling into his shirt. "I'll always come back. No matter what."

"Aelita," Jeremie says, averting his light blue eyes to hers. He didn't know what came over him, and he said, "Promise me...we'll never be separated ever again..._Ever_. You mean too much to me, and I... I can't stand to lose you... not _again_."

Aelita takes his hand, causing his face to turn an even deeper red, and smiles. More tears stream down her face. "Of course, Jeremie," she answers. "_Never._"

* * *

And that night, Aelita soundly slept in Jeremie's bed back at headquarters, breathing in his lingering scent.

* * *

**Author's Note: How was that? You like it? My heart warmed a bit after proofreading this! I hope you love it! :) Review please!**


	26. Epilogue

**I'm sad to say that this is the last chapter... But I hope you enjoy the ending! Here's the epilogue.**

* * *

Epilogue

During the next seven weeks that passed, Aelita's coronation to be crowned Queen of Eurasia was planned and done. Jeremie was just released from the hospital so he could come home and recover at headquarters, much to Aelita's happiness.

After the whole turn of events, Aelita is finally crowned Queen of Eurasia, but she refused the offer. She put some of the responsibility into Eurasia's Army's hands, and they became the secret undercover police force who enforce the laws.

But Aelita is still the matriarch of Eurasia in some degree.

Aelita watches the large expanse of forest spread out in front of her from the balcony windows in her France Castle. It does hold bad memories but good ones also, ones that remind her of her family.

With her eyes, she traces the rivulets of water flowing down the glass from the rain, and she watches as the forests become nourished and replenished with the newly found water source.

Sighing, she sits back into her throne, and she thinks about how her father used to sit in it. She smiles to herself. Everything in her life seems fit together now, but one thing is _still_ missing. She rests her cheek in the palm of her right hand.

Even though it was raining, she just had the urge to run outside, for she felt like something was waiting outside for her.

So, she did.

Once outside, she sees a male walking towards her, towards the castle's double doors. He stopped mid stride, blown away by her radiant beauty. His umbrella shadows his eyes, giving Aelita only a small glance at his profile. He wears a tan-beige trenchcoat, which swayed as the wind blew, and as he held a bright red rose in his other hand.

Aelita didn't need to have a good look at his face. Just by his posture and gait, she knew who it was.

Her hair getting soaked, she runs towards Jeremie, immediately wrapping her arms around him for what seemed like the millionth time. Tears of joy run down her cheeks, mingling with the cold rain that fell on her face, as Jeremie looks at her worriedly.

"Aelita.." Jeremie said. She loves how her name sounds like honey against his lips. "You're going to catch a cold."

Aelita shakes her head, smiling. "You came home early..." says the Queen. She then pulls away, and takes a good look at the bright red rose. "Who's the rose for?" she asks out of curiosity.

Jeremie suddenly becomes red, and also enormously flustered. "I-it's for you, y-you know...i-if you want it...?" He forcefully thrusts the rose towards her. Aelita gingerly accepts it. She then takes a deep whiff, smiles in pleasure, and throws the bright red rose on the pavement, leaving it to be washed away by the heavy rain.

Jeremie looks at it with a tinge of hurt. Aelita notices, and she only laughs. "The rose is beautiful..." she says, "But I don't want it. I want you, and only you. _Right now_. I love you, and I don't want to ever be separated from you, not _again_." She looks at him with persistent green eyes, as she recited those words he told her at the hospital straight from her heart.

"You...you m-mean it? asks Jeremie.

Aelita nods in a quick pace, shaking out millions of water droplets from her hair.

They both stared at each other for a while, the heavy barrage of rain the only sound. Jeremie could only think about how much he loved her, and how she returned that love. There was one thing he wanted to _do_, something he wanted to do for a long time now. Aelita could only feel the same.

Before they knew it, Aelita was progressively reaching up towards Jeremie on her tip toes, as Jeremie leaned down towards her at the same rate. When their lips were just a few centimeters apart, their breaths slowly mingled, and then...

They met.

Their first kiss, and Aelita was savoring every moment. Everything around her, she ignored, the rain, the run off, the pavement. All she concentrated on was the guy in front of her, as their bodies melded to one. Both hearts were racing, either one afraid that the other could possibly hear it.

While they kissed, Jeremie completely forgot about the bright red rose on the pavement, currently being washed away by the rain.

* * *

**Author's Note: _Fin. So that concludes my story! Thanks for reading! I appreciated it!  
_**

**Acknowledements: A shout out to everyone who helped with the progression of my story!**

**blueblur2000**

**InjuredGirl72**

**Random person**

**Guest**

**Muffinmilk317**

**Traveler7**

**Arronhuang**

**AelitaOfTheWolves**

**aelitalyoko99**

**zhuxixi13**

**A Small Voice**

**EragonJediGirl357**

**Tigrissa18**

**YoshiStack**

**m0ckingbird77**

**thunderman24**

**Aniline**

**toywizard27**

**Thank you so much for reviewing, favoriting, and/or following my story! And thank you to all my other readers who actually read my story! THAT MEANS YOU, READER! :) Oh, and one more thing, two really, no three: R-E-V-I-E-W please! Deleted scenes coming soon! Oh, and I'm coming up with a sequel.. I'll tell you guys about it the deleted scenes, in the next chapter! Thank you guys! Love you all! See you soon! :) Mwah!**


	27. Deleted Scenes

**Deleted Scenes**

**Hey guys! Here's a list of things I was going to do to my story, but couldn't work in. I hope you enjoy it!**

**1) OddxAelita- TOP OF THE LIST. I wrote fluff scenes and everything for this couple. I was originally going to pair these two up (even though I don't really like them THAT much together, I don't know what was going on in my head). It just seemed to make more sense at the time, you know with Odd being a fighter and all, and Jeremie being only a mapper and medic... Odd has the chance to always save her, but not Jeremie. But then when I thought more about it, JeremiexAelita made more sense. Both of them are kinda not the fighter type, more like the strategist, and intelligence type. They would have lots more to talk about that captured both of their interests.**

**2) Aelita's coronation- I was originally going to write a detailed description of Aelita's crowning, but I just thought it would take too long, and that it doesn't exactly help with plot progression at all. I just thought a briefing would do it.**

**3) Love triangle- I was going to have a OddxAelitaxJeremie love triangle, but then I thought that it would turn into one of those sappy teen dramas, and then would become all jumbled and such. Though I do LOVE young adult romance (especially the dark/paranormal/gothic type). I just wanted to focus more on the action, adventure, and plot progression. Short, and to the point!**

**4)YumixUlrich- I was going to seal their relationship with a kiss at an adventure in the jungle (I had it all written out). But then I thought...with the Dragon's Barrette, they wouldn't have to go on long journeys to travel long distances. Why would they be in the jungle anyway? And with so much people around, they can't do anything in headquarters, because that would be highly unprofessional. So I really couldn't work THAT in.**

**5) Jeremie's death- I don't know, I just thought to add a bit of sadness to my story, and then have Odd go out with Aelita. Like, a lot of readers complain about authors 'sheltering' their characters, and I just didn't want to do that.. FOR CRYING OUT LOUD, they were in a war, someone had to die! But I love Jeremie too much to do that. (:**

**6) Heartbroken Jeremie- I was actually going to do this whole thing where Jeremie had a girlfriend back in France, but they broke up because he kept on leaving to work at the headquarters. Then he'd have all these recurring dreams/nightmares about it. So I was literally going to have him create this bubble world around him, where he would block everyone out and mope about it. Then I was going to have Aelita actually going to be the one to break through the shell, Jeremie get over it, and they get together. Eh, just couldn't work that in..**

**7) Tension between Aelita and the rest of the gang (due to being a damsel in distress)- I was actually going to have Yumi, Ulrich, Odd, and Jeremie hate Aelita at first, because they thought that she would indirectly weaken them. Then she would slowly have to gain their trust by showing them that she is tough, and that she _can _fight. But then I thought that I would be too harsh at Aelita, and I had only so much time to write this story (about a month, and a few weeks after to edit).**

**8) Title- I was originally going to call this story 'Eurasia's Army' or 'Secret of the Shadow Fighters.' The first one, I just hate, because I hate the word Eurasia... (it just sounds funny to me). I know I used it a million times in my story, but Europe and Asia's Army is too long... And the second title is too long, and they were discovered by Dominik, so they weren't really a 'secret.'**

**9) Dominik's Death- I was originally going to have Dominik killed at the Sayan Mountains, right at the spot. You know, when he had that duel with Aelita. I was going to have her get so angry, all of that anger fueled her to beat him, and catch Dominik off guard. But then I thought, Aelita is a Princess, with minimal fighting experience, fighting against an evil, tyrannical King with the finest military force. Wouldn't make sense if Aelita won, right?**

**10) Dominik's Motive- I was originally going to make Dominik have this undying love for Anthea, and because of it, he went insane and went through tons of lengths to get her attention. Taking over Eurasia was meant to make Anthea impressed by his masculine abilities... But then it was going to become one of those weird, overly dramatic dramas, you know, the whole, 'If I can't have her, then no one can, which is why I'm killing all of you..' Seriously? I didn't want that. I just made him one of those evil antagonists that just wanted world domination for no exact reason, just power. Like X.A.N.A.**

* * *

**Now, Sequel Talk Time With toastedCroissants**

**Okay, so I might be writing a sequel, and I'm sad to say that I won't be updating on an almost daily basis (like this one). I just am not given the time to constantly work on this, but I PROMISE that it'll be a decent read, probably even better than this story.**

**So here's the summary (keep in mind that I'm still working on it):**

**Ulrich, being the strongest warrior of Eurasia's Army, is assigned a new mission: Protect Brynga at all costs. She is thought to hold some information about the new enemies that arise: The Kinimods, descendants of King Dominik who plan to take after him. This assignment starts a whole new round of drama, which threaten to rip the close friends apart. Will they keep together their unbreakable bond?**

**So yeah, Ulrich protects Brynga. Yumi gets jealous. Odd likes Brynga, but Ulrich unknowingly catches her attention. So their's going to be tension between the three friends. I am also going to add an OC, who's smart and has an interest in maps and computers, and grows and interest in Jeremie. Aelita stays faithful, but then eventually becomes jealous. Yumi uses William to get on Ulrich's nerves, so Ulrich uses Brynga. So yeah, probably a lot of drama between the five. And Brynga, yes she _is _the Brynga in episode 85, Kadic Bombshell. You know, with the blonde hair and slim body (for some reason, I really dislike her..oh yeah, she messed up the supercomputer, and almost killed Ulrich, Yumi and Aelita!)... Oh, and yes, Kinimods is Dominik spelled backwards.**

**So I hope you will be highly anticipating this sequel, and I'm working on it (at a snail's pace, I daresay)!**

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**Okay, so there are more things I want to tell you guys:**

**In the first few chapters, I had Franz Hopper's name wrong. Instead of Waldo, I used Francis, meaning that I should've used his fake last name also: 'Hopper.' But no, being the weird me, I used his fake first name, and his real last name: Francais Schaeffer... (face palm)**

**OH MY GOD, I TOTALLY FORGOT ABOUT THE DISCLAIMER! I was reading other FanFictions, and I realize that I'm the only one who didn't put a disclaimer! I'm so sorry guys... I'll do it now: I, toastedCroissants, do not own Code Lyoko in any way, even though I really wish that I did... *sigh***

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**Never read a good FanFiction for a while? Well, check out my favorites! And my favorite authors! I promise you that you will not be disappointed! :) May I suggest 'The Games of Moriarty?' It's really good, I promise you! **

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**So tell me what you think about the sequel, along with a review in the review box below! I'll really appreciate it, and it'll motivate me to get on with this sequel! :) Thank you guys so much for sticking through with me.. I'm new to this site, and you guys, by reading and/or reviewing, really made me feel welcome.. I just love you guys SO MUCH. I never expected this many reviews... I expected FAR from that... FAR LESS... I never thought that people here could be so nice.. You guys meld with each other so well, that this site feels like a very large extended family of readers and writers.. I love you guys so MUCH (as I say again), there's no words to describe it... :)**

**So for now, bye! Love you guys! Mwah! :)**


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